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MASTER
THESIS:
THE CONSUMER ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE INNOVATION
AMONG CAFÉS IN THAI MARKET
A Case Study of Thai Consumers’ Attitude towards Thai Desserts
Authors:
Group 2790
Araya Rajitdumrong (850330)
Budsarin Sa-ngarungroj (840327)
Tutor: Peter Selegård
Examiner: Ole Liljefors
Date: June 1, 2011
O
i
Abstract
Seminar Date: 2011- 06 - 01
Program: MIMA-International Marketing
Course Name: Master Thesis (EFO 705) Title: The Consumer Attitude Towards The Innovation Among Café In Thai
Market Authors: Araya Rajitdumrong ([email protected])
Budsarin Sa-ngarungroj ([email protected])
Tutor: Peter Selegård
Problem: There is none of Thai desserts launched in Western style cafés, most of
which are selling Western bakery as the perfect combination of coffee,
even they are running business in Thailand
Purpose: To investigate and analyze consumer attitude (towards Innovation
among Café in Thai market), culture and market conditions in order to
reach the proper marketing mix (4P‟s) for the probability to make Thai
Desserts a trend among Cafés.
Method: This research is mainly based on the survey method of both
quantitative and qualitative approach. The investigation model used is
demographics, consumer behavior, market factors and attitude towards
Innovation (Thai Desserts). Both primary and secondary data are
formulated to reach the conclusion for the research purpose.
Conclusion: Thai teenagers and young adults‟ attitude towards Thai Desserts is in
the positive way due to target customers are beginning to accept the
Innovation of Thai Desserts in café place. The new characteristics or
attributes of Thai Desserts are proper for teenagers and young adults
who are ready to explore and challenge the new experience of food and
beverage.
There is the possibility for Thai Desserts to beat the popularity of
Western bakery but there needs some time or „transition period‟ for
customers to accept more and more until the Thai Desserts can become
a new trend among café industry. This will be the great opportunity for
entrepreneurs and marketers to generate business among this café
industry by placing the Eastern Thai Desserts on a showcase for selling
as a perfect combination with the Western style of coffee in Thai
market.
Key words: Culture, Cross culture, Eastern & Western, Attitude & Consumer
Behavior, Food, Coffee in Thai Market, International Café, Innovation,
Marketing Strategies for Innovation, Thai eating habits
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Acknowledgement
Over the period of conducting this research paper, the authors have encountered many problems
and difficulties.
We would like to express gratitude to our project supervisor, Peter Selegård, whose
encourangement, guidance and support from the innitial to the final stage enabling us to develop
an understanding of the subject areas and research process. Also, we are heartily thankful to our
main opponents and side opponents for the different points of view which are valuable for
progress on our paper during the seminars.
Lastly, we would like to offer our regards and blessings to all of those who supported us in any
aspects during the completion of the project, especially for the respondents who took time to
answer our online questionnaire.
Araya Rajitdumrong
Budsarin Sa-ngarungroj
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background........................................................................................................................... 1
1.2Problem Statement ................................................................................................................ 2
1.3Purpose of the Research ........................................................................................................ 2
1.4Research Question ................................................................................................................. 3
2. Research Methodology ............................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Choice of the Topic and the Study Object............................................................................ 6
2.1.1 Choice of Topic .............................................................................................................. 6
2.1.2 Choice of Organization .................................................................................................. 6
2.1.3 Choice of Respondents ................................................................................................... 6
2.2 Research Design ................................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Data Collection ..................................................................................................................... 7
2.3.1 Primary data ................................................................................................................... 9
2.3.2 Secondary data ............................................................................................................. 13
2.4 Analysis Plan ...................................................................................................................... 14
3. Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................................... 15
3.1 Consumer Behavior ............................................................................................................ 16
3.1.1 Attitude ......................................................................................................................... 16
3.1.2 Cultural Factors ............................................................................................................ 17
3.1.3. Marketing Mix ............................................................................................................ 21
3.1.4 SWOT .......................................................................................................................... 24
4. Critical Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 26
4.1 Method for the Literature Review ...................................................................................... 26
4.2 Mapping and Describing the Literature .............................................................................. 27
4.3 Critical Argument of Chosen Literature ............................................................................. 28
4.4 Overview of Chosen Literature .......................................................................................... 31
5. Empirical Finding ................................................................................................................... 32
5.1 Research Results (Primary Data) ....................................................................................... 32
5.1.1 General Information of Respondents ........................................................................... 32
5.1.2 Consumer Behavior ...................................................................................................... 37
3.1.3 Market Factors.............................................................................................................. 41
5.1.4 Attitude towards Innovation among Cafe .................................................................... 45
5.2 Thai Desserts, Café Chains and Thai Consumers Overview ............................................. 52
(Secondary Data) ...................................................................................................................... 52
5.2.1Thai Desserts Overview ................................................................................................ 52
5.2.2 Thai Consumers Overview ........................................................................................... 54
6. Analysis and Interpretation of Research Material .................................................................. 56
6.1 Social Class ........................................................................................................................ 56
6.2 Culture & Sub Culture ........................................................................................................ 58
6.3 Value ................................................................................................................................... 60
6.4 SWOT Analysis .................................................................................................................. 63
6.5 Attitude ............................................................................................................................... 64
7. Conclusion of the Research Outcome ..................................................................................... 66
8. Recommendation .................................................................................................................... 68
8.1 Marketing Mix (4P’s) ......................................................................................................... 68
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8.1.1 Product ......................................................................................................................... 68
8.1.2 Price .............................................................................................................................. 68
8.1.3 Place ............................................................................................................................. 69
8.1.4 Promotion ..................................................................................................................... 69
Reference List .............................................................................................................................. 71
Appendix 1– Questionnaire (English Version) ............................................................................ 74
Appendix 2–Survey Results ........................................................................................................ 82
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Table of Figures
Figure 1: Research Process ......................................................................................................5 Figure 2: Taro Yamane's Equation ..........................................................................................12
Figure 3: The Overview of Operational Process of Research Method ..................................14
Figure 4: The Theoretical Framework Model..........................................................................15
Figure 5: Social Values Continuum .........................................................................................20
Figure 6: The Element of Marketing Mix ................................................................................22
Figure 7: SWOT.......................................................................................................................24
Figure 8: A Map of Chosen and Potential Literature Search ...................................................28
Figure 9: Overview of Chosen Literature ................................................................................31
Figure 10: The Percentage of the Respondents' Age ...............................................................33
Figure 11: The Percentage of the Respondents' Gender ..........................................................33
Figure 12: The Percentage of the Respondents' Education......................................................34
Figure 13: The Percentage of the Respondents' Profession .....................................................35
Figure 14: The Percentage of the Respondents' Monthly Income ...........................................36
Figure 15: The Percentage of the Respondents' Frequency in Visiting Cafe per Week ..........37
Figure 16: The Percantage of the Respondents' Favourite Drink in Cafe ...............................38
Figure 17: The Percentage of the Respondents' Normal Coffee Consumer Bahavior.............39
Figure 18: The Percentage of the Respondents' Coffee Consumption with People ................39
Figure 19: The Percentage of the Respondents' Coffee Pattern on Regular Basis ..................40
Figure 20: The Percentage of the Respondents' Coffee Price Range for Premium Coffee .....41
Figure 21: The Mean of the Respondents' Factors in Selecting a Cafe ...................................42
Figure 22: The Mean of the Respondents' Influenceof Media in Selecting a Cafe .................43
Figure 23: The Mean of the Respondents' Influence of Promotion in Selecting a Cafe..........44
Figure 24: The Repondents' Experience of Western Bakery ...................................................45
Figure 25: Mean of the Respondents' Influence on Western Bakery Purchase .......................46
Figure 26: The Respondents' Experience of Thai Desserts .....................................................47
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Figure 27: The Frequency of Respondents' Experience of Thai Desserts ...............................47 Figure 28: The Mean of Respondents‟ Agreement of Thai Desserts.......................................48
Figure 29: The Respondents' Agreement on the Replacement of Western Bakery by Thai
Desserts ....................................................................................................................................49 Figure 30: The Respondents' Tendency in Purchasing Thai Desserts .....................................49
Figure 31: Mean of Attractive Pattern of Thai Desserts ..........................................................50
Figure 32: Mean of Best Match of Thai Desserts with Beverage in Cafe ...............................51
Figure 33: Variety of Thai Desserts .........................................................................................52
Figure 34: The Percentage of the Respondents' Monthly Income ...........................................56
Figure 35: The Percentage of the Repondents' Education .......................................................57
Figure 36: Target Price Range for Premium Coffee ................................................................57
Figure 37: The Percentage of People that the Respondents Usually Go to Cafe With............58
Figure 38: The Frequency of Visiting Cafe per Week .............................................................58
Figure 39: Top Drink Menu that the Respondents Usually Order in Cafe ..............................59
Figure 40: The Purchasing Frequency of Western Bakery per Week .....................................60
Figure 41: The Purchasing of Thai Desserts per Week ...........................................................60
Figure 42: The Respondents' Opinion on Thai Desserts..........................................................61
Figure 43: The Respondents' Opinion on Western Bakery......................................................61
Figure 44: The Respondents' Opinion on Replacing Thai Desserts instead of Western Bakery
..................................................................................................................................................62 Figure 45: The Frequency of Purchasing Products and Services from Cafe more often in
Future .......................................................................................................................................63
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Final Thesis
1. Introduction This Master Thesis begins with a background concerning the research topic area which leads
to problem statement, purpose of the research, and research question. Also, it is provided
with the combination of research methodology, theoretical framework and literature reviews
with potential keywords which are used for the investigation and discussion throughout the
project.
1.1 Background
In Thailand, food generally forms a central part of Thai culture for any social occasions and
special celebrations, which reflects the friendly social nature of Thai people and the way of
food consumption in Thailand. Thai people established Thai food and desserts, the heart of
Siamese cuisine as we know it today, are considered one the most exquisite of the world.
The formal presentation of the Thai food and desserts is another important aspect of Thai
culture and cuisine (Thai Food, 2011).
Thai desserts or „Kanom Thai‟ have been used in Buddhist rituals and ceremonies over
centuries. Thai desserts are well known for their taste and appearance. Variety of traditional
Thai sweets and desserts are neatly made in colorful and impressive features (Thaiways
Magazine, 2002).
According to the fast pace world today, young professionals are having less and less time for
their meals, and tending to dine outside more and more because of longer work hours, social
lunches or dinner with friends, which will benefit the café and restaurant industry for long
term basis. This industry also expects to gain benefit from both domestic and international
tourism. The fact does show that café and restaurant sector is generating a good growth
aspect. The outlook is becoming more positive with 3.2% growth in turnover expected
annually during 2011–2012 (Smart Company, 2007). Franchising is dominating café and
restaurant in Thailand. There are both foreign-owned franchised operators such as McCafés,
Starbucks and other local franchises (Smart Company, 2007).
Referring to general of café in Thailand, we might realize that there is only Western bakery
placed with aromatic coffee in most of cafés both local and international brands in Thailand.
Thai Desserts are often overlooked by many Thais and foreigners. Most of Thai cafés and
restaurants tend to underrate the desserts experience, yet Thai Desserts offer an authentic way
to top off Thai food meal.
However, the world is becoming more global, most companies have to penetrate their
organizations into international standardization. All CEO and managers have to outdo their
competitors with their peak performance and competitive advantages for sustainable success.
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And, Thailand today is consisted of multinational people; hence, diversity can drive the
organizations to create innovation in order to offer their products and services at the
exceptional level. This will help organizations to serve diversity of people from different
cultures and countries with tailored offerings. This will let the companies correspond to
customers‟ needs more precisely (Johansson, 2011).
Then, the innovative uniqueness between the different ideas from different fields and cultures
of east meets west would be very interesting for entrepreneurs who are willing to start their
own business or marketing managers who are going to boost the profitability for companies.
Hence, one idea regarding to this is to put finger-sized sweets in various tastes and figures
into café, a place for leisure and recreation, in order to promote awareness of our national
sweet heritage among the new generation, and to push it to target markets or the world
stage. There may be possibility of market entry for Thai Desserts because they are different
from other competitors in the same industry which offer only bakery. Also, each type of
sweets contains symbolic meanings which normally convey in positive way of prosperity and
success, which marketers can use as one of the marketing strategies to increase competitive
advantage. Thai sweets and desserts such as Look Choob (Green Bean Miniature Fruit) and
Thong Yib and Thong Yod (Yolk-Egg Golden Pinch and Golden Droplets) are ranked on top
among Thai desserts. They are interesting products which are common and can be used as
commercial products as well. They can use the blended mixture of eastern and western
products and services to change the customer attitude towards Thai Desserts for people can
explore the extraordinary new innovation. This is considered as differentiation which can
create competitive advantages to cafés in order to compete with competitors in the same
industry more efficiently.
Therefore, it would be worth knowing real consumer attitude towards innovative products of
Thai Desserts and Western coffee among cafés within Thai market. And, how the innovation
development can change the attitude of Thai teenagers and young adults in positive way in
order to deliver newness to target customers and increase market share in café and restaurant
sector at the same time.
1.2Problem Statement
There is none of Thai Desserts launched in Western style cafés even they are running
business in Thailand. Despite of the different cultures between eastern and western, and
eating habits of humans, we would like to learn consumer attitude in order to know the
possibility in putting concept of innovation to them; to create a place (café) to launch the
innovation between Eastern (Thai Desserts) and Western (coffee) cultures together. Hence,
this research can considerably benefit companies among café industry in terms of marketing
strategies to the target customers.
1.3Purpose of the Research
The aim of this research is to investigate how Eastern and Western concept can emerge and
make a success; to analyze attitude of Thai teenagers and young adults under the age range of
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15 -34 years old towards innovative products of Thai desserts and Western coffee among
cafés; and to help entrepreneurs and marketing managers find the probability to make this a
trend under proper marketing strategies. The support reason for this target selection is come
from the survey about coffee drinking habit of Thai people in the year 2543 by the Kasikorn
Thai Research Center found that the average amount of Thai people are drinking coffee 200
cups per person/year and almost of key target groups are business man, students, officers, and
etc who age between 15-34 years old (Kasikorn Research, 2003).
This research will be related with theories and concepts of attitude, innovation, consumer
behavior, culture and marketing strategies for implementing the scientific relevance and
collecting data in order to reach the conclusion, which is worth answering the research
problem anyhow.
Target Audience
This research might be useful for entrepreneurs who are expecting to launch their own café
business and marketing managers as well as marketing students who are interested in attitude
among Thai teenagers and young adults aged range of 15 -34 years old towards innovative
products of Thai Desserts and Western coffee among cafes. Especially for café chains which
strive for being differentiated from other competitors for they can deliver the right offerings
to their target customers and making profitability under innovation.
1.4Research Question
What are the current targeting customer attitude and consumer behavior
towards innovation (Thai Desserts and Western coffee)?
Can new concept of innovation development between two different cultures
(Thai Desserts and Western Coffee) increase attractiveness into Café Industry,
which drives Café Chains to growth opportunity?
How can café outrun its competitors by using the competitive advantages of
innovative product development (Thai desserts and western coffee) with
marketing strategies into the store?
Keyword Definition
Normally, “Innovation” does mean the combination between the two new things or ideas from
different fields together. In contrast, in accordance to this research project, “Innovation” is
portrayed in another perspective. “Innovation” here is the mergence of the two different existing
products and services between Asian culture (Thai Desserts) and American culture (Coffee) as a
new combination option for customers among café chains.
This is because Café chains are trying to serve customers more than just coffee. In addition to the
service, they offer customers with various product choices such as different types of desserts and
other facilities in order to increase diversity. If the customer is interested in desserts, he/she will
be able to order and eat in the shop or take away. This information can be used to develop and
improve the marketing concept of the café industry into the upper scale in the future.
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1. The general operating system among cafe chains, they will offer bakery with coffee.
*Bakery refers to cookies, cake, pie, and etc.
2. The new operating system among cafe chains, they will offer Thai Desserts with coffee
(Innovation).
*Thai Desserts (Innovation) refers to Thong Yibb (Egg Yolk and Sugar), Kanom-Chan (Candy
Layer Desserts), Kanom-Salee (Thai Muffins), and etc.
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2. Research Methodology This chapter focuses and puts more emphasis on the methodological approaches of this
investigation. The research method and data collection will be described and discussed in
order to get answers for the research problem and correspond to the purpose of the research.
This will state on how the investigation is conducted and the primary and secondary data are
collected in below details. However, the figure below presents how overall research process
is developed from the beginning of topic selection to an end of recommendation.
Topic Selection
Formulation of Problem and Purpose
Research Method Selection
Development of Conceptual Framework
Literature Review
Data Collection
Analysis
Conclusion
Recommendation
Figure 1: Research Process (Own Illustration)
According to the figure of research process above, it begins with topic selection for the
authors can have the proper and interesting choice of topic area for the research project.
Research method selection is a medium to find the proper way of investigation coupled with
suitable data collection in accordance with the research problem. Then, we select the related
theories and put them into conceptual framework, which will be developed to answer the
research problem. Furthermore, we have to search for literature review which relates and
helps formulate the problem and purpose of study. Linkage of all stages will lead to the
practical analysis and conclusion along with the combination of recommendation that will be
useful for the research project and target audiences eventually.
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2.1 Choice of the Topic and the Study Object
2.1.1 Choice of Topic
According to Fisher (2007, p. 31-32), it states that choosing the right topic is the crucial part
for the dissertation. It should be interesting for the authors who are doing the research and the
target audiences as well. The topic selection is focusing on “The Consumer Attitude towards
an Innovation among Cafés in Thai Market”. We try to narrow down the main focus to
consumer attitude coupled with the investigation on culture and market, which will lead to
the proper marketing strategies development for innovation among cafés.
The narrowing down of focal area on café industry with the particular market in Thailand
helps limit the research field, which is suitable for the time and capability of the authors to
carry out this research project properly. Also, the accessibility of the scientific relevance of
the research topic can help the target audiences in answering the research problem.
In addition, Fisher (2007, p. 32) mentions that the durability of the choice of topic is
important. In other words, topic with its data collection should not face rapid change during
the duration of research project. Since, the authors chose to work on customer attitude; it
should not be interfered with the mentioned problem.
2.1.2 Choice of Organization This research is based on the study of putting innovation (Thai desserts and western coffee)
among café industry in Thai market. One of the most important reasons in selecting this
organization is that there has never been a showcase of Thai desserts for sales in café in
Thailand. In addition, there will be possibility in generating profitability from this industry in
future as the authors already mentioned in the introduction part. The fact does show that the
café and restaurant sector is sustaining a good growth rate. The outlook is becoming more
positive with 3.2% growth in turnover expected annually during 2011–2012 (Smart
Company, 2007)
Moreover, another important factor is that the authors, whose personal interest is in café
industry with previous experiences in products and services from many café chains, hoping to
find an opportunity to launch our own café business someday. Also, the idea of innovation
among café and other concepts in this industry can be supported by academic research
capability; then, café is considered as potential industry which contains possibility for our
research topic.
2.1.3 Choice of Respondents
Since our research focuses on consumer attitude towards innovation and investigation on
culture and market conditions of café industry in Thailand; hence, hence, the choice of
convenient sampling respondents will be mainly launched to target customers as we distribute
the online survey to our friends or friends of friends. Our target respondents are Thai
teenagers and young adults under the age range of 15 -34 years old both male and female of
7
generation “Y”.
The characteristics of teenagers and young adults are optimistic, confident, and sociable. They
prefer challenges, excitement and newness. They are not brand royal because the speed of
the cyber world has led this generation be flexible and changing in its fashion and style
consciousness more frequently than generation “X” (Genetics & Evolution, 2010).
These target segmentations, a new generation, are considered to be innovation adopters for
our new trend of innovation between Thai Desserts and Western coffee among cafe which
correspond to the main purpose of the questionnaire in learning the consumer attitude.
2.2 Research Design
According to research design, this chapter is essential because it indentifies the proper type of
evidences required to answer the research question in the convincing way. “The function of a
research design is to ensure that the evidence obtained enables us to answer the initial
question as unambiguously as possible”. Then, the master thesis needs a good design or
structure before starting to do empirical data collection and analysis. The authors have to
follow the work plan details following the research design in order to complete the project.
Research design normally includes issues of sampling, method of data collection and
evidence from questionnaire, observation and document analysis, which should be logical
and relevant to the research topic and research questions (nyu.edu, 2010).
In other words, a good research design will lead to better quality of research project due to
the proper investigation can draw a strong and convincing evaluation and conclusion that are
worth answering to the research problem and research questions.
The research entitled “The Consumer Attitude Towards The Innovation Among Cafés In
Thai Market”; then, the authors decided to do questionnaire as research method to collect
data. The questionnaire employs both research approach of quantitative (inductive) and
qualitative (deductive) in investigation, which will be adequate for determination and
experiment. This is more practical than interviews in terms of time and location. Referring to
time, the use of questionnaire is more suitable than interviews because we can collect data
both in breadth by pre-coded questions and in depth through open-ended questions at the
same time. The authors can access the information through the questionnaire which aims to
determine attitude and behavior towards the innovation among cafés in Thailand. Referring to
place, the authors plan to conduct the questionnaire mainly in Bangkok, Thailand, where is an
area of the main target market for café industry. As we know that Bangkok is a place where
many famous café chains offering their products and services to target customers. We also
translated the questionnaire into Thai version in order to be convenient to respondents to
make sure we can deliver the right message to them. In addition, we will launch the online
survey to large random samples in Bangkok as we are now students in Sweden.
2.3 Data Collection
According to Ghauri & Gronhaug (2010), the research method can be collected from various
8
potential sources through historical data, research, analysis, survey and etc., which can be a
step to find answers for research problem (p.104). Data resources are considered the
important carrier for information. In addition, there are two main methods for collecting data;
primary data and secondary data. The primary data is the way that the authors collect original
data at hand for the research problem while the secondary data is the medium to collect data
for a different purpose (by others) from ours.
Two types of data collection are needed in this project due to the validity, reliability and
effectiveness in data evaluation process.
9
2.3.1 Primary data
The primary data is normally necessary when a researcher cannot find the data needed in the
secondary data (UNESCAP, 2005). This research project is concentrated on primary data
which is questionnaire that carries both qualitative and quantitative methods. The authors can
collect data both in breadth by pre-coded questions and in depth through open-ended
questions. The quantitative method of pre-coded questions can investigate on people‟s
attitude and reason behind buying behavior for a particular product by letting respondents
select one of the pre-stated answers in multiple-choice. The data regarding to the past evens
or experiences can only be gathered by asking people who involved or remembered that
particular events, which is considered scientific and suitable for research topic. This will be
useful for statistical analysis (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010, p.100). Survey is an effective tool
to get people‟s opinion and attitude.
According to this project, we have to conduct also the qualitative research which is unlike the
qualitative research in terms of different knowledge perspectives and research objectives.
Qualitative research is a mixture of the rationalness, intuition and exploration. The qualitative
method of open-ended questions can uncover or investigate on people‟s experience, behavior,
or phenomenon about which little is known by leaving blank space for respondents to put
their answers. It is suitable when the research objective demands in-depth and insight of such
phenomenon (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010, p.107). Referring to the research topic, we would
like to put the innovation concept of Thai Desserts into Cafés; then, it is quite common for us
to collect data through observation and interaction for the new concept of innovation. This
type of research requires us to think abstractly, analyze situations, avoid biases, and obtain
valid and reliable information for theoretical implementation in further stage (p.105).
Hence, we combine and use both types of research in the study of questionnaire, which will
be more efficient and less time consuming for the authors.
The information is collected from the opinion of the target groups who stay in Bangkok. The
data from questionnaire will be used to show “Consumer Attitude towards the Innovation
among Cafés in Thai Market”. Questionnaire method will give useful information and also
cover the answer from a large amount of respondents. The data will be used for supporting
this thesis in terms of investigation on opinion, consumer behavior and market section. The
authors can look for, ask about and collect data which depends on our research problem and
research design. The primary data can give us the advantage on consistency of information
for our research objectives and research questions (Ghauri & Gronhaug 2010, p.99).
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2.3.1 a) Questionnaire Design
According to Fisher (2007, p.161-162), the questionnaire should be as short as possible and
attractive to respondents. The questionnaire is divided into various parts to cover all issues
needed for the research topic.
The questionnaire consists of 4 main parts:
Part 1: Personal Information (demographics)
Part 2: Consumer Behavior
Part 3: Market Factors
Part 4: Attitude towards Innovation
The questions should be placed in the right order. It should begin with the easy-to-answer and
positive questions first to the difficult ones in order to be in consequence. Also, the
questionnaire should be simple with concise language, and contain the consistency of the
wording, which means the same word or phrase have to contain the same meaning throughout
the questionnaire (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2010, p.99).
There are many different types of questions used for investigating customers for different
purposes. There are both pre-coded (surveying) and open (exploratory) manner. The authors
used close-ended question due to it is easier for respondents to answer. Also, it is practical to
collect data and interpret into statistics for analysis.
The authors also used Dichotomous Questions which offer two possible options for choosing
under a clear-cut issue. This type of question is used at the beginning of Part 2: Consumer
Behavior in the questionnaire in order to filter the respondents who have even been
customers for café chains. There is a use of Multiple-Choice and Check Lists which provide
respondents with three to five choices to choose. And, they are sometimes allowed to tick
more than one answer (Fisher 2004, p.162). These can compare the views and experiences of
many people; then, it is the easiest way to use choice approach. Likert Scales are used to
examine people‟s opinion and attitude. There are five-point scales from one (disagree or
strongly disagree) to five (agree or strongly agree).
Also, the questionnaire employs the medium of open approach, which allows the authors to
look for new ideas. Then, this will be useful for the research project in terms of marketing
mix for innovation.
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2.3.1 b) Questionnaire Distribution
Since our target respondents are teenagers and young adults under the age range of 15 -34
years old – the so-called Generation “Y”. They are very technology wise with lots of energy,
informal networks and fresh perspectives. They like an update communication channels
(Genetics & Evolution, 2010). Hence, the authors intended to launch the questionnaire online
for respondents through hyperlink available via famous social network service of Facebook
and Twitter or e-mail. We chose to do online survey under the service of Google
Spreadsheets which are considered the effective and reliable tool with manageable format.
After the respondents submitting the questionnaire, the results of ideas and feedback will be
collected in form of spreadsheets or excels for further implementing process with SPSS, a
computer program used for statistical analysis, for analysis and conclusion chapter.
2.3.1 c) Sample Size
According to our research project, we need to determine the right sample size for the online
survey in order to get the reliable result for the analysis and conclusion of the research topic.
In determining the appropriate sample size, we need to determine other influencing factors,
purpose of the study, population size, the risk of selecting “bad” sample and the allowable
amount for error.
In addition, we need to consider factors of the level of precision and the level of confidence
or risk, which need to be matured and specified to get the appropriate sample size (EDIS,
2009). This research project aims to target customers of Thai teenagers and young adults
(under the age range of 15 -34 years old) who live in Bangkok, Thailand where most of café
chains are located. This is because the average amount of Thai people are drinking coffee 200
cups per person/year and almost of key target groups are business man, students, officers, and
etc who age between 15-34 years old (Kasikorn Research, 2003).
According to this, we need to use the strategies to determine the sample size for getting the
proper sampling size for the target groups for online survey. The total population of Thai
teenagers and young adults aged between 15 – 34 years old both male and female in Bangkok
is 21,482,914 people from published tables (Popcensus, 2010). We selected and applied the
approach of Taro Yamane‟s Formula in below details:
12
Figure 2: Taro Yamane’s Equation (Own Illustration)
Source: (EDIS, 2009)
n = Sample Size
N = Total Population
E = Level of precision
The level of precision or sampling error, the range of estimated true value of population,
should be within percentage points of +5% while the confidence or risk level should be
approximately 95% of the sample values of the true population value for the normal
distribution (EDIS, 2009). The calculation is shown below:
n = 21,482,914
1 + [21,482,914 * 0.052]
n = 21,482,914
1 + [21,482,914 * 0.025]
n = 21,482,914
53,708.285
n = 399.992
Therefore, the appropriate sample size of our target customers in Bangkok, Thailand for data
collection from questionnaire is 399.992 ≈ 400 respondents for research project.
2.3.1 d) Limitation
There were some problems during the online survey conduct, data collecting or the research
results as following details:
The authors had launched the online survey to respondents via facebook both on wall
post and message, and direct e-mail; however, some of them did not reply or receive
our questionnaire notifications. This slowed down the speed of reaching the target
sample size of 400 respondents.
We could not control all age or gender of respondents to match with the target
customers.
There were some missing or incomplete questionnaires returned.
Some parts of the questionnaire results of complex issues and opinions were not
sufficient for analysis or are slightly different from our expectation.
13
2.3.2 Secondary data
The secondary data are needed when the information from the primary data is not sufficient
for analysis part in getting the proper answers for the research questions. It is useful not only
to find supporting information to solve research problem areas, but also to explain more for a
better understanding of the readers. In addition, secondary data can help forming a more
concrete and focusing on research questions, and providing benchmarking measurement that
can be compared with the results of the study at hand later on. (Ghauri & Gronhaug 2010,
p.90).The other external sources can be books, journals, articles, online data, press releases,
websites and etc. At the same time, some part of information also based on company records
& annual reports of firms and organizations, including some literature reviews to enhance
the value of findings. Textbooks can help the authors in orientating in a field of literature
and they can be used as a source of references while journals and articles are the most up-
to-date research and debates. Hence, the scope of the information can be different. Once we
use the secondary data in this research project, the reliability of the information
becomes our responsibility in conveying the audiences (Cooper and Schindler, 2001).
However, the standard of chosen sources is based on the truth worthy and reliable
sources. The academic journals that were chosen as a reference will be mainly
from Mälardalen University‟s library. Then, literature review will mainly come from search
engine of Google scholar, LibHub and Inderscience as well as other web pages which
contain a related topic.
14
2.4 Analysis Plan
Figure 3: The Overview of Operational Process of Research Method (Own Illustration)
The above figure illustrates the overall process of how the authors collected issues of survey
and formulate the analysis in order to provide the appropriate recommendation of marketing
mix for Thai Desserts among Cafés.
15
3. Theoretical Framework Refer to the idea of Fisher (2007, p.120), the first stage in theorizing is to clarify the terms or
concepts that you will use to describe the subject of research. The second stage provides a
description of the relationship (i.e. a conceptual framework) between the concepts used. The
third stage uses the conceptual framework to develop theories that explain the patterns and
connections in research material.”
This chapter is to explain the meaning of the theories which are relevant to research topic.
They help structure and formulate the modification and development of concepts for the
dissertation. All theories and concepts will be mentioned and used in the different parts of
analysis for the project. The selected theories are mainly from course books of Consumer
Behavior and International Marketing.
Culture &
Sub Culture
Attitude
Social Class
Value
1. Cognitive component 2. Affective component 3. Behavioral component
Marketing Mix
(4 P’s)
SWOT
Figure 4: The Theoretical Framework Model (Own Illustration)
According to figure 4, the feasible model is showing the complete process of how theoretical
framework or the selected theories are related together as a whole. We use five variables
above for determining on how they can influence and effect towards attitude of Thai
customers. The authors select these factors, including the result of the questionnaires to
support the idea of the authors and to create the credibility to this thesis.
16
3.1 Consumer Behavior
The main concept of Consumer Behavior book is the understanding of customer needs and
wants, which is the major underpinning constructs of the marketing concept (Evans, Jamal &
Foxall, 2009, p.2). At the same time, Consumer Behavior is the study of when, why, how,
and where people do or do not buy a product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology,
social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making
process for both individual and in group (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).
Above paragraph can support that all humans have ability to serve their needs by searching,
selecting, comparing and managing products or services which can fulfill their needs and
wants well. Then, marketers need to study about the behavior of Consumer Behavior which
will help them to know how to create the practical marketing strategies for business. As a
result, marketers will know the method to satisfy their customers‟ needs. They will know
how to solve their customers‟ problems about the behavior in purchasing decision in the
effective way. Moreover, the key benefits of the study will help the marketers develop their
marketing strategies, including the process of product development to continually improve
their products and services to success in the future.
In this thesis, Consumer Behavior concept will support the information in the consumer part
which relates to attitude, culture, sub-culture, social class, and value of the consumers to
check how these factors effect to consumer purchasing decision for innovation (Thai
Desserts) instead of Western bakery in general café chains.
3.1.1 Attitude
Attitude refers to the feelings or opinions of people towards something. This may refer to a
feeling in negative or positive way. This can be supported by the sentence “Attitude is a
complex mental state which involves what one knows, one’s own feelings, values, and
disposition to act in a certain ways. An Attitude refers to a predisposition to respond in a
predictable manner to a stimulus. A personal attitude is a result of the learning of stimulus or
object and thus an individual develops either like or dislike towards it. Stimulus can be
anything from physical to social objects such as a brand, a person and a retail store”
(Louden & Bitta, 1993).
In simple term, attitude is a person‟s relatively consistent evaluations, feelings, and
tendencies toward an object or idea. Attitude puts people into a frame of mind in liking or
disliking things. In general, people have attitude regarding to almost everything such as food,
drink, music and clothes (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008, pp. 144-145). At the same time, attitude
is essentially stable structure and is not easily changed. It seems to be difficult and cost a lot
to enterprise in changing attitude, so companies should try to fit products into existing
attitude rather than attempt to change it (Louden & Bitta, 1993; Kotler & Armstrong, 2008
pp. 144-145).
17
Attitude components
The meaning of attitude can be seen that it consists of following details;
1. Composition cognitive (cognitive component): this consists of a person‟s beliefs
or knowledge about an issue or an object. They reflect how the individuals perceive the case
to be, even there is a mismatch between their beliefs and reality (Evans, Jamal & Foxall,
2009, p.67). This can refers to a part of attitude which is related to general know how of a
person (Nova Bizz, 2011).
2. Elements of the feelings (affective component): this consists of a person‟s
feelings or emotions about the issues of the objects. These feelings can be „positive‟ or
„negative‟. These are based on the beliefs about the object that the individuals hold (Evans,
Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.68) or this part of attitude is related to the statement which affects
another person(Nova Bizz, 2011).
3. Elements of the action potential (behavioral component): this consists of how
the individual is likely to respond to the object based on what they know about it and how
they feel about it (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.68). At the same time, the behavioral
component refers to the part of attitude which reflects the intension of a person either in short
run or in long run (Nova Bizz, 2011).
The reason why the authors chose the main idea of this concept is because the authors wanted
to study about the attitude of Thai consumers toward Thai Desserts due to almost of cafés in
Thailand regularly serve bakery as a pack with a cup of coffee (Edu Zones, 2007). This will
be a good opportunity for new entrepreneurs who want to find the uniqueness for their
business by adding new innovation or Thai Desserts instead of bakery which reflects to
western culture. However, we can use questionnaire to find out the attitude of the target
groups to support this part.
3.1.2 Cultural Factors
According to the main idea in the course book (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.198), it
mentions that nowadays world is getting smaller in terms of travel, communication, trade and
population movement. Nevertheless, more marketers are targeting more markets, which
reinforces the importance of diversity of people and their different cultures. There are several
topics which relate to research topic as follows;
Culture and Sub Culture
Culture
The word „culture‟ has many descriptions and definitions in the literature. One of its
meanings refers that culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumers.
Culture represents influences that are imposed on the consumers by other individuals (USC
Marshall, 2010).
18
Culture becomes the important factor that pushes business to success. Marketers should pay
attention in the similarities and differences of culture. Because of the uniqueness among
traditions, norms, customs, habits, attitudes and perceptions of customers may lead to
different business profitability.
Culture is a fundamental influence on the need and behavior of people. The children can be
influenced by values, perceptions, preferences and behaviors from the family members or
other institutions e.g. school and etc. (USC Marshall, 2010).
At the same time culture can be divided into three components which the readers can notice
below;
1. Cognitive elements and beliefs: they are what a society „knows‟ (and transmits from
generation to generation) about the physical and social worlds and the way in which
society works and its religious beliefs (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.199).
2. Value and norms: these inform how the majority in the society are expected to
behave. Non-normative behavior is how the individuals respond and react to these
more generalized societal norms. (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, p.199).
3. Sign, signals and symbols: these include language and the variety of convention in a
society for conveying meaning in terms of language. It is sometimes said, jokingly,
that the US and UK cultures are separated by a common language. (Evans, Jamal &
Foxall, 2009, p.199).
All of above sentences mean that culture is a human‟s powerful tool for survival, but it is a
fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changed and easily lost because it exists only in the
minds. Including written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are
merely the products of culture. These things cannot call as a culture by themselves. For this
reason, archaeologists cannot dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots of
ancient people are only material remains in reflecting cultural patterns - they are things that
were made and used through cultural knowledge and skills. (Anthro Palomar.edu, 2006).
Sub Culture
In fact, diverse societies mean that people have come from many different parts of the world.
They often retain much of their original or cultural traditions. As a result, they are likely to
be part of an identifiable subculture in their new society (Anthro Palomar.edu, 2006). In each
culture consists of many difference sub-cultures. This will lead to market segmentation and
the way to design strategies of marketing mix (4 P's) which includes following details;
- Ethnicity and citizenship such as USA, UK, Thailand, China, Laos, and etc.
- Religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, and etc.
- Geographic areas such as North, Central, South and so on.
(USC Marshall, 2010).
19
Culture and society is not the same. Culture, which is created and transmitted to others in a
society, is consisted of learned behavior patterns and perceptions while societies are groups
of interacting organisms. Culture is not the product of individuals but they are products for
people interacting with each other. If you were the only human on earth, there would be no
need for language or government. (Anthro Palomar.edu, 2006).
Social Class
Members of the society are divided into different levels based on variables such as income,
occupation, wealth, housing, and etc., which can generally divided into three social class
levels; upper class, middle class and lower class (USC Marshall, 2010).
Members in the same social class will have values, interests and behavior in a similar way.
On the other hand, if the members come from the different levels of social class, it will make
them to feel in the different ways. For example, the members of the upper class will use
Brand name clothing, drive expensive cars (i.e. Benz, BMW, Jaguar) or play golf in their
leisure activities, and etc. The followings are the main characteristics of social class.
- People who live in the same social class tend to behave the same.
- People will be ranked both higher and lower in the social class.
- Social class can indicate the group of variables such as occupation, income, wealth
and education rather than just one variable.
- Every person can change social class to be higher or lower in all parts of their life
(USC Marshall, 2010).
Values
Values are criteria that the person or group use in deciding what not to do and what must be
done to get the desirable results together. The research topic of “The Consumer Attitude
towards the Innovation among Café in Thai Market” relates about western values (Bakery)
and non- Western values (Thai Desserts or Innovation). Both Western values and non-
Western values have different styles which can be understood easily by the figure number 4
(Social values continuum).
20
Connectedness
Western
Individualistic, independent, separated
Ex Harley Davidson: ‘We don’t care how everyone
does it … we prefer to go our own way.’
Separateness
Non-Western
Connected, interdependent, collective Ex Fuji Bank: ‘Meeting the client needs is half the
Story, meeting society’s needs is the other half.’
Figure 5: Social Values Continuum
Source: (Evans, Jamal & Foxall, 2009, P. 203)
To enhance and prove the sentence “Western bakery can reflect the better image of targeting
consumers than Thai Desserts in terms of personal style, taste and financial status”. The
authors chose the concepts from consumer behavior book which relates about culture, sub
culture, social class and value to do the research and find out all important information which
relate with the research topic.
21
3.1.3. Marketing Mix
The Marketing Mix is tools or factors that control the business in order to serve and satisfy all
needs and satisfaction of the target groups and to encourage the demand of products &
services.
22
Figure 6: The Element of Marketing Mix
Source: (Marketing Teacher, 2011)
Product
Product is the product or service which offers to the customers. This becomes the guidelines
for the product to make it fit to the basic need of the target groups. There are two general
ways for value added into product and service.
1.1 Products with a difference
By creating the differentiation, customers actually experience it easily from special features
such as the appearance of safety and durability. This method will effect to the group of
customers which has low competition (niche market).
1.2 Products with low price;
This means companies are willing to reduce the quality in some non-critical down; for
example, the quality or the quantity of the products. (Nanosoft, 1999)
Price
Pricing decisions should be taken into account of profit margins and the probable pricing
response of competitors. Pricing includes not only the list price, but also discounts, financing,
and other options like leasing (Quick MBA, 2010).
23
Place (Distribution)
Place (or placement) decisions are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as
the means for getting the product to the target customers. The distribution system performs
transactional, logistical, and facilitating functions.
Distribution decisions include market coverage, channel member selection, logistics, and
levels of service (Quick MBA, 2010).
Promotion
Promotion decisions are those related to communicating and selling to potential consumers.
Since these costs can be large in proportion to the product price, a break-even analysis should
be performed when making promotion decisions. It is useful to know the value of customers
in order to determine whether additional customers are worth the cost of acquiring them or
not.
Promotion decisions involve advertising, public relations, media types, etc. (Quick MBA,
2010).
The authors chose this concept of Marketing Mix (4 P‟s) to support and to answer the
authors‟ idea of “There is much more offering of Western bakery with Western coffee in
regards of 4P‟s than Thai Desserts, which effects consumer behavior in purchasing
decision”. By collecting 400 copies of questionnaires calculated from the sample size
formula, this is to make sure that this thesis will rely on the true information and be sustained
in the future (Fisher, 2007, p.175).
24
3.1.4 SWOT
Figure 7: SWOT
Source: (Creative Streak, 2010)
SWOT analysis is a tool to assess the situation which can help the administrators to
determine the strengths and weaknesses that come from internal environment including
opportunities and threats from external environment as well as the factors that will impact to
the organizations.
S “strengths”: the strength which comes from internal factors. The benefits will arise
from the internal environment of the organization such as the strength of finance,
manufacturing or human resource. The company needs to take advantage of the strengths to
create the marketing strategies (Stfrancis.edu, 1999).
W “weaknesses”: the meaning of weakness derives from the internal factors of the
organization such as problems or defects that arise within the companies. The organization
must find the solution to solve the problems (Stfrancis.edu, 1999).
O “opportunities”: opportunities are caused by external factors. The result comes
from the external environment that supports the process which can create benefit to
organization's operations. The differences between „opportunities‟ and „strengths‟ is
„opportunities‟ come from external factor but strengths come from the internal factor. Good
25
marketers will always look for opportunities and take the advantage of that opportunity
(Stfrancis.edu, 1999).
T “threats”: threats refer to the difficulties which come from external factors or the
limitations caused by the external environment. The business is required to adjust marketing
strategies accordingly and try to eliminate the obstacles that arise (Stfrancis.edu, 1999).
To find out the reason about “Can the innovation change the attitude and eating habit trend of
target customers or not? ”, SWOT will help the authors to analyze strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats of the innovation or Thai Desserts that would be effective in cafés
or not. Some part of the questionnaire, which is the main primary data, will support the thesis
in making it more reliable to use for café business in future.
26
4. Critical Literature Review The main purpose of this chapter of literature review is to find the broader perspective of
relevant data for the research topic; then, the authors selected critical literature review
focusing on the research areas in order to support reliability throughout the project in terms of
data, analysis and interpretation.
4.1 Method for the Literature Review
The authors chose the critical literature review for research areas from the various databases
with specified keywords as following details:
Keywords:
Culture, Cross culture, Eastern & Western
Attitude & Consumer Behavior
Food, Coffee in Thai Market, International Café
Innovation
Marketing Strategies for Innovation
Thai eating habits Databases and Websites
We searched Journals, Academics Articles, Books, Dissertations and other related websites
that published or available online through electronic resources of Mälardalen University‟s
library from existing academic databases or facilities as follows:
ABI/INFORM Global
Libhub database
Google Scholar
Inderscience and etc.
Then, we finally got two journals from the website of Google Scholar, one journal from the
website of Inderscience and one journal from Libhub, which will be used differently
depending on the purpose of research.
27
4.2 Mapping and Describing the Literature
Literature Mapping
Culture and Values:
Thai Eating Habits &
Social Class Structure
Competitive
Advantages of
Innovation
Eastern & Western
Consumer‟s Attitude towards
Innovation (Thai desserts &
western coffee) Driving Café
to Success
SWOT
Marketing Mix
(4P‟s)
28
Figure 8: A Map of Chosen and Potential Literature Search (Own Illustration)
According to figure 8, it portrays the downsizing focus on the literature concepts relevant to
the project. It shows the process how variables are linked and connected to each other. The
variables of Thai eating habits & social class structure and culture & values of eastern and
western will let us determine the customer‟s attitude towards innovation and consumer
behavior concerning to eating habits. Also competitive advantages of innovation coupled
with marketing strategies development will lead to the proper marketing mix (4P‟s) for
innovation (Thai Desserts & Western coffee) driving cafés to success.
4.3 Critical Argument of Chosen Literature This part sums up the themes, main concepts or ideas of chosen literature which will be
useful in supporting the analysis part of the project.
Creating the Innovation Culture
Refer to idea of Langdon Morris, the innovation culture is likewise an expression of people,
their past, and their current beliefs, ideas, and behaviors. They make innovation happen, and
they do so consistently over time. The necessity of innovation is now universally accepted,
but beyond their enthusiasm for bright ideas. Most leaders know that to be successful over
the long term, they have to develop a strong innovation culture.
The information from paper does support in almost cultures in the world. Culture can show
the reflection of the beliefs and behaviors of people in such time, as well as the history that
shaped them. The paper shows that it is not easy to create the innovation culture. On the other
hand, the paper support that the purpose of innovation is precisely creating a particular form
of variation, which is valuable novelty.
As same as in café business, there is a high competitiveness in this industry. All marketers
should try to develop their strategies and create new innovation to improve their business.
This literature can support the idea of innovation culture that will make this thesis contain
more reliability (Morris, 2007).
Values and adoption of innovations: a cross-cultural study
This literature review is about the detail of value and adoption of innovation. The adoption
process for new products varies from one individual to another according to characteristics
such as demographics (age, place of residence, etc.), socioeconomics (salary, social class,
etc.), psycho-graphics (personality, open-mindedness, etc.) and culture (value system,
ethnicity, etc.).
29
It focuses on cultural values because the process of how to human adopt new product is also
influenced by the system of values. Values can explain about the social and culture on how
innovativeness effect to national, cultural and social boundaries.
The information from this study will support this thesis in terms of the perception and
adoption of consumer through innovative product. This paper also prove the authors‟ opinion
about how value effect to human attitude (Daghfous, Petrof & Pons, 1999).
The specialty coffee shop market – are today’s consumers demanding more than store
ambience and good coffee from their consumption experience?
Since the early 1990s leading specialty coffee shop chains have provided a lucrative market
for investment and during the early part of this decade, despite the worst recession occurring
since the war, coffee shop chains managed to prosper and make substantial profits. However
evidence does suggest that there are a number of challenges now facing the industry. This
paper represents an initial investigation into how financially sensitive specialist coffee shop
chains are in an economic downturn.
Specialty coffee shops are attracting younger consumers. In the other hand, an innovative
strategies; for example, the inclusion of a cyber café may also contribute towards price, not
exerting an influence over purchase intent. Even specialty coffee shops have felt the pinch
and created more added value, which would justify the higher prices charged by leading
coffee shop chains. Equally, managers also understand that trading in the current market
place is demanding and that more promotions are necessary to both entice and maintain
interest and satisfaction levels. Research suggests that in order to sustain growth, leading
coffee shops should continue to train and offer quality coffee and food to the consumer
(Ryding, 2011).
This paper can prove that innovation becomes important in business in present time. To
create uniqueness of product and service, marketer should concern about all detail in deep
including production process, decoration even though promotion. The procedure of the paper
can encourage this thesis in the part of “Attitude towards Innovation among café”.
30
Not ̀ From Scratch’: Thai food systems and `public eating’
There are many academic papers studying about the pattern of eating habit of Thai consumers
and social class structure in Thailand. We found out that this potential journal of Yasmeen
can help the authors outline the scope of the research.
This paper explains Thai urban way of „eating out‟ or Thai consumers‟ habit of consuming
and purchasing outside the home. It is another attempt to show the complex maze of Thai
food ways in transition. A traditional way of consumption is replaced by the industrial food
system shown in various retailing stores, which indicates the changing pattern of eating habit
of Thai consumers from traditional food and beverage to stimulating demand of specialty
offers; for example, few „traditional‟ coffee carts have been replaced by both local and
international café chains like Starbucks. Also, there is the combination of changing gender
relationships, household dynamics and social class.
Yasmeen wants to address Thai eating habit of prepared food in public places – the so-called
„sidewalks‟ and increasing number of indoor spaces such as institutions, shopping complexes
and offices, with the emphasis on the gender roles and foodways. The pattern of food
retailing in Bangkok, the system of public markets, and the changes of distribution channel
over the past 20 years, which enhance the understanding of how café chains become trend in
Thailand, especially in Bangkok. This can support the project in terms of the gender
involvement and target aged group for innovation of Thai desserts and coffee. (Yasmeen,
2000, p.341-350)
31
4.4 Overview of Chosen Literature
Author
Year
Title Literature
Types
Source
John V. Petrof,
Frank Pons
1999 Values and adoption of
innovations: a cross-cultural
study
Journal Of
Consumer
Marketing
Scholar
Langdon Morris
2007 Creating the Innovation
Culture
Journal Of
Academics
Scholar
Daniella Ryding
2011
The speciality coffee shop
market – are today‟s
consumers demanding more
than store ambience
and good coffee from their
consumption experience?
Journal Business
and
Globalisation
Inderscience
Gáisele
Yasmeen
2000
Not `From Scratch‟: Thai
food systems and `public
eating‟
Journal of
Intercultural
Studies
LibHub
Figure 9: Overview of Chosen Literature (Own Illustration)
32
5. Empirical Finding This chapter generates the data collection mentioned in the research methodology. There is a
collection of both primary data, which is the survey results at hand gathered from the online
questionnaire, and secondary data, which is the relevant data and information from the
websites or other potential databases, in below context. These will help support and answer
research problems.
5.1 Research Results (Primary Data)
To find the information on customers‟ culture & sub-culture, value, SWOT of Thai desserts
and attitude, the authors did distribute the online questionnaire totally to 412 respondents.
However, there were 33 incomplete questionnaires, hence, our analysis are based on the 379
complete surveys which are considered as 92% of total. The information in this chapter is
based on the result of the survey which is divided into 4 main parts: personal information,
consumer behavior, market factors and attitude towards Thai desserts
For demographics, market factors, value, culture & sub-culture are based on the statistical
techniques of frequency and mean, social class based on mean and ANOVA, marketing mix
based on mean and t-test, and SWOT based on mean and multiple regression.
5.1.1 General Information of Respondents
This part of research results is useful for the authors for analysis in terms of demographics of
the target customers which are Thai teenagers and young adults
33
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid Less than 15 years
16-25 years
26-35 years
36-45 years
Total
3 .8 .8 .8
281 74.1 74.1 74.9
87 23.0 23.0 97.9
8 2.1 2.1 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 10: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Age
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
First, the respondents were asked about their age ranges which are categorized into 4 groups.
Most of the respondents are in age range of 16-25 year-old which is 74.1% as shown in the
figure 10 above. The second is 26-35 years old which is 23%, which is followed by the 2.1%
of age between 36-45 years old. And, the rest is the smallest group of respondents who aged
less than 15 years which is 0.8% of overall. Then customers who aged 16-35 years of
teenagers and young adults are our main target groups as mentioned in the report.
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid male
female
Total
41 10.8 10.8 10.8
338 89.2 89.2 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 11: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Gender
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
Figure 11 indicates that most of the respondents are female which takes 89.2% while male is
only 10.8%
34
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid Junior high
school
High School
Diploma
Bachelor's degree
Master's Degree
Total
2 .5 .5 .5
38 10.0 10.0 10.6
6 1.6 1.6 12.1
264 69.7 69.7 81.8
69 18.2 18.2 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 12: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Education
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
In terms of frequency, most of our respondents are educated people under Bachelor's
degree and Master's Degree (67.9% and 18.2%) while others are High School, Diploma
and Junior high school
35
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid Student
State Employee
Public Employee
Business Owner
Total
231 60.9 60.9 60.9
82 21.6 21.6 82.6
18 4.7 4.7 87.3
48 12.7 12.7 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 13: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Profession
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
According to the figure number 13, the profession is separated into 4 groups of student, state
employee, public employee and business owner. The figure shows that most respondents are
students (60.9%), comes up with state employee (21.6%), business owner (12.7%) and public
employee (4.7%).
36
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Less than 10,000 Baht
10,001 to 20,000 Baht
20,001 to 30,000 Baht
30,001 to 40,000 Baht
40,001 to 50,000 Baht
50,001 to 100,000 Baht
More than 100,000 Baht
Total
119 31.4 31.4 31.4
126 33.2 33.2 64.6
76 20.1 20.1 84.7
36 9.5 9.5 94.2
9 2.4 2.4 96.6
8 2.1 2.1 98.7
5 1.3 1.3 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 14: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Monthly Income
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
According to the percentage, the three highest frequency of the average income ranges are
10,001 to 20,000 Baht (33.2%), Less than 10,000 Baht (31.4%) and 20,001 to 30,000 Baht
(20.1%). This ends up with more than 100,000 Baht (1.3%). These can reflect parallel of
income with the age and education of the target groups.
37
5.1.2 Consumer Behavior
This section of the results is the investigation which shows the frequency of consumer
behavior on products and services of café industry.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1-2 times
3-4 times
5-6 times
more than 7 times per
week
Total
238 62.8 62.8 62.8
83 21.9 21.9 84.7
31 8.2 8.2 92.9
27 7.1 7.1 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 15: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Frequency in Visiting Café per Week
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
Figure 15 shows the consumer behavior on frequency of visiting café per week, most of
respondents 62.8% normally visit the café 1-2 times a week and 21.9% do at 3-4 times a
week while the rest are at 5-6 times (8.2%) and more than 7 times per week (7.1%).
38
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Coffee variation Valid Different types of tea
(green tea, milk tea)
Fruit and vegetable juices
Soft drinks
milk
Total
201 53.0 53.0 53.0
123 32.5 32.5 85.5
27 7.1 7.1 92.6
11 2.9 2.9 95.5
17 4.5 4.5 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 16: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Favorite Drink in Café
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
According to the figure 16, the coffee variation is the number one that 201 respondents
(53%) usually order as their beverage in café. Then, the famous drink order is different types
of tea (i.e. green tea, milk tea) (32.5%) while the options of fruit and vegetable juices, soft
drinks and milk are in similar percentage range.
39
Frequency
Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Consume at the store
Consume at work
Purchase, drink and walk
Take away
Total
184 48.5 48.5 48.5
48 12.7 12.7 61.2
137 36.1 36.1 97.4
10 2.6 2.6 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 17: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Normal Coffee Consumer Behavior
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
Referring to above figure, people are tending to consume coffee at the store (48.5%) and
purchase, drink and walk (36.1%) more than consume at work and take away which take the
left percentage of 12.7% and 2.6%.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Friend
lover
family
alone
Total
236 62.3 62.3 62.3
49 12.9 12.9 75.2
17 4.5 4.5 79.7
77 20.3 20.3 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 18: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Coffee Consumption with People
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
Most of respondents usually go with fiends most often when consume coffee with the valid
percentage of 62.3% while some of them go with their lover, alone and family as shown in
figure 18.
40
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Cafe in department
stores
Cafe in workplace
Cafe in gas station
Cafe in parks such as
Chatuchak, Suan Lum
Night Bazaar and etc.
Cafe with special
atmosphere
Total
156 41.2 41.2 41.2
75 19.8 19.8 60.9
35 9.2 9.2 70.2
18 4.7 4.7 74.9
95 25.1 25.1 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 19: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Coffee Consumption Pattern on Regular
Basis
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
The respondents were asked in which cafe place they regularly have coffee. Most of them
normally choose in department stores (41.2%) and cafe with special atmosphere or decorative
style. And the rest are cafe in workplace, cafe in gas station and cafe in parks such as
Chatuchak, Suan Lum Night Bazaar and etc. in logical order.
41
3.1.3 Market Factors
This part of the results aims to examine the market factors which are influencing the
consumers‟ decision making in products and services purchase among café industry. Also,
this investigation can help support the marketing mix (4P‟s) in analysis part and develop the
suitable marketing activities for Thai desserts among café in Thailand.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 30-45 Baht
46-55 Baht
56-65 Baht
66-75 Baht
76-85 Baht
86-95 Baht
More than 95
Baht
Total
68 17.9 17.9 17.9
40 10.6 10.6 28.5
21 5.5 5.5 34.0
24 6.3 6.3 40.4
26 6.9 6.9 47.2
30 7.9 7.9 55.1
170 44.9 44.9 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 20: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Coffee Price Range for Premium Coffee
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
In accordance of figure 20, the question for this figure is “What is the price do you regularly
pay for a premium coffee?. The highest level (44.9%) of the price range that respondents
regularly pay for a premium coffee is more than 95 Baht, (17.9%) for 30-45 Baht, (10.6%) at
46-55 Baht and the rest are varied between the range of 86-95 Baht, 76-85 Baht, 66-75 Baht
and 56-65 Baht in similar percentage.
42
Statistics
Coffee taste
Price
Quality
Volume
Other
products sold
in the shop
together
Easy to find
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.39 3.63 4.42 3.31 2.71 3.93
Std. Deviation .752 .724 .668 .734 .940 .838
Cleanliness of
the shop
Atmosphere
and
decorative
style
Promotions and
discounts
service
Packaging
Facilities such
as Internet,
magazines and
Wi-fi
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.44 4.26 3.68 4.01 3.42 3.72
Std. Deviation .641 .718 .973 .716 .735 .963
Figure 21: The Mean of the Respondents’ Factors in Selecting a Cafe
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
The respondents were asked about the factors that influencing their decision making in
selecting a café with six attributes of coffee for them to rate the rate the degree of feeling or
agreement. From figure, the respondents‟ opinion reflecting the high level of cleanliness of
the shop, the second is quality, and the following opinions are taste, atmosphere and
43
decorative style, service, easy to find place, facilities such as internet, magazines and Wi-fi,
promotions and discounts, price, packaging, volume and other choices of products sold
within the shop.
Statistics
TV Radio Newspaper Magazine Banner Internet Other
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M .29 .08 .12 .44 .41 .55 .03
Std. Deviation .453 .278 .327 .497 .493 .499 .182
Figure 22: The Mean of the Respondents’ Influence of Media in Selecting a Cafe
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
According to the figure 22, it is about the influences of media on the respondents’ selection
of café. The customers normally gain the information of the products and services before
deciding to select and purchase them. The most influential source for respondents is internet.
The second source used to get information is magazine while the third is banner. Then it
followed with TV, newspaper, radio and other media. In addition, other is friend.
44
The use of
loyalty cards
in exchange
for free drinks
Apply
membership
cards and
discounts
Promotion
offers special
seasonal
variety
Free trial
sample
Other
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean .26 .39 .27 .07 .00
Std. Deviation .440 .488 .444 .262 .000
Figure 23: The Mean of the Respondents’ Influence of Promotion in Selecting a Cafe
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
To encourage the customers to purchase the products and services more, the
marketers need to launch and make use of various promotional packages.
Membership cards and discounts seems to be the most influential promotion for
respondents to purchase the products and services (mean = .39). The second is special
promotion offered for each season (mean = .27). The third is loyalty cards for free
drink exchange when respondents reach the minimum purchase conditions (mean =
.26) while free trial becomes the least influential promotion for respondents.
45
5.1.4 Attitude towards Innovation among Cafe
This part of the results is showing the belief of respondents towards Western
bakery and Thai desserts, and what they expect from the innovation of Thai
desserts and coffee among café.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid like
dislike
Total
353 93.1 93.1 93.1
26 6.9 6.9 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 24: The Respondents’ Experience of
Western Bakery
Source: Own Illustration
formulated by SPSS
Referring to the figure 24, the percentage of the respondents who like the
Western bakery is much higher than ones who dislike it between 93.1% VS
6.9%.
Statistics
Taste
bakery
product
price
bakery
product
quality
bakery
product
volume
bakery
produc
t
A variety
of types of
candy
bakery
The beauty
of the
packaging
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.70 3.69 3.64 4.52 4.09 3.70
Std. Deviation .590 .757 .747 .570 .749 .800
46
Cleanliness
Colors of
bakery
Presentation
format
Promotions
and discounts
Service
bakery
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.55 3.63 3.75 3.75 3.99
Std. Deviation .650 .766 .712 .890 .876
Figure 25: Mean of the Respondents’ Influence on Western Bakery Purchase
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
The mean of respondents‟ influence on western bakery purchase varied on eleven attributes.
The respondents give strongly agree to the taste of bakery product (mean = 4.70), the second
highest rate is the cleanliness of the shop (mean = 4.55) while the portion of the bakery
product (4.52) comes at the third. Then, others are ranked in chronological order of bakery
variety, service in bakery shop, bakery presentation & promotional discounts, attractive
appearance of packaging, price quality and appearance of bakery as the strongly disagree for
respondents as portrayed in figure 25.
47
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid like
dislike
Total
305 80.5 80.5 80.5
74 19.5 19.5 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 26: The Respondents’ Experience of Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
From the figure above, the frequency rate of 305 respondents (80.5%) who like Thai desserts
is much higher than those (19.5%) who do not like them.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 1-2 times
3-4 times
5-6 times
More than 7 times per
week
Total
321 84.7 84.7 84.7
50 13.2 13.2 97.9
5 1.3 1.3 99.2
3 .8 .8 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 27: The Frequency of Respondents’ Experience of Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
According to figure 27, it illustrates that most respondents (84.7%) purchase Thai desserts 1-
2 times per week. And, 3-4 times/week gets 13.2% and 5-6 times gets 1.3%. It seems that
there is very low rate of people purchasing Thai desserts more than 7 times per week since
the percentage is at only 0.8.
48
Statistics
Taste Thai
desserts
Price Thai
desserts
volume
Thai
desserts
quality
Thai
desserts
A variety of
types of candy
Thai dessert
The beauty of
the packaging
Thai
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
M 4.65 3.75 3.81 4.33 4.09 4.37
Std.
Deviation
.596 .826 .760 .704 .751 .600
Cleanliness
Colors of Thai
desserts 2
Presentation
format-Thai
Promotions and
discounts-THAI
service-Thai
desserts
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
4.54 3.87 4.08 4.37 4.12
Std.
Deviation
.622 .801 .660 .525 .869
Figure 28: The Mean of Respondents’ Agreement of Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
In accordance to the above figure, it lets the respondents to rate the feelings based on strongly
agree and strongly disagree among eleven attributes which influence respondents in terms of
decision making to purchase Thai desserts with coffee (Innovation). The highest important
factor is the tastes of Thai desserts (mean = 4.65), second is cleanliness of the shop (mean =
4.54), the third equal ones are attractive packaging and promotional discounts (mean = 4.37).
Consequencely, they are followed by quality, services in the shop, Thai desserts variation,
Thai desserts presentation, colorful appearance, quantity and price (mean = 3.75) as the least
concern of the customers in purchasing Thai desserts with coffee (innovation).
49
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid agree
disagree
Total
338 89.2 89.2 89.2
41 10.8 10.8 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 29: The Respondents’ Agreement on the Replacement of Western Bakery by
Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
When asking about the replacement of Western bakery by Thai desserts, the respondents‟
opinions are the agreement which contains the higher percentage of 89.2% than the
disagreement of (10.8%), which means there is the much possibility for Thai desserts in
making profitability among café industry.
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid yes
no
Total
265 69.9 69.9 69.9
114 30.1 30.1 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 30: The Respondents’ Tendency in Purchasing Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
The figure above is relevant to the tendency in purchasing Thai desserts in the future. It
indicates that 69.9% of the respondents are likely to purchase products and services of Thai
desserts more often in the future; in contrast, the less percentage of respondents who refused
to go on purchase them continuously is at 30.1%.
50
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Maintaining the original
style of Thai desserts
Integrated eastern &
western style
International pattern of
packaging and
appearance of Thai
desserts
other
Total
52 13.7 13.7 13.7
91 24.0 24.0 37.7
168 44.3 44.3 82.1
68 17.9 17.9 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Figure 31: Mean of Attractive Pattern of Thai Desserts
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
This part of the survey examines the respondents‟ opinions on which type of Thai desserts
categories is worth showing the customers. The figure supports that the most attractive Thai
desserts should be in international pattern for both packaging and appearance of Thai desserts
which acquires 44.3% of total percentage. The second highest rate is integrated eastern &
western style, and following by maintaining the original style of Thai desserts as the least
popularity.
51
Sweets
made
from
egg
yolk
and
sugar.
Type of
steamed
sweets
such as
Kanom-
Chan
(Candy
Layer
Desserts),
Kanom-
Salee
(Thai
Muffins),
etc
Type of
boiled
sweets
such as
Kaw-
Tom-
Mad
(Boiled
Rice
Sweets),
etc
Type of
coconut
milk such
as
Kanom-
Piak
Poon
(Coconut
Pudding),
etc
Type of
baked sweets
such as
Kanom-Dork
Lam
Duan(Baking
Flour) and
Kanom-Ba
Bin(Baking
Sweets), etc.
Type of
sweeten
desserts
such as
Kluay
Chuerm
(Sweeten
Banana),
etc
Type syrup
sweets such
as Pon La
Mai Loy
Keaw(Fruit
in Syrup),
Woon Nam
Chuerm
(Jelly in
Syrup), etc
other
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
.49 .24 .04 .01 .18 .01 .03 .01
Std.
Deviation
.501 .426 .189 .073 .382 .102 .168 .102
Figure 32: Mean of Best Match of Thai Desserts with Beverage in Cafe
Source: Own Illustration formulated by SPSS
Finally, the respondents were asked what kind of traditional Thai desserts should be best
matched with coffee or other drinks in café. As a result, sweets made from egg yolk and
sugar, which gain (mean =.49), are the top runner among other kinds. The second runner is
type of steamed sweets such as Kanom-Chan (Candy Layer Desserts), Kanom-Salee (Thai
Muffins), etc (mean =.24), and the third is type of baked sweets such as Kanom-Dork Lam
Duan(Baking Flour) and Kanom-Ba Bin(Baking Sweets), etc. (mean =.18). Others, type of
boiled sweets such as Kaw-Tom-Mad (Boiled Rice Sweets), type syrup sweets such as Pon
La Mai Loy Keaw(Fruit in Syrup), Woon Nam Chuerm (Jelly in Syrup), type of coconut milk
such as Kanom-Piak Poon (Coconut Pudding) and type of sweeten desserts such as Kluay
Chuerm (Sweeten Banana), are sharing the similar mean.
52
5.2 Thai Desserts, Café Chains and Thai Consumers Overview
(Secondary Data)
This represents the data collection which is relevant to the research topic. It begins with the
Thai desserts overview, coffee market and consumers in Thailand, bakery market in Thailand
and Thai consumers‟ attitude towards Thai desserts
5.2.1Thai Desserts Overview
Figure 33: Variety of Thai Desserts
Source: (Thailand Travel Online, 2010)
Thai cuisine is internationally famous for its food and sweets. Thai desserts or „Kanom Thai‟
are well known for their taste sensations and impressive appearance with attractive colors,
which reflects the Thai neat and delicate cuisine. They have been among the favorites of
Thais for over hundreds of years (Asia Recipe, 2010).
Thai desserts are normally served after a Thai meal. They have played an important role on
auspicious occasions, festivals and ceremonies. Also, they are considered as a token of
gratitude and gladness under good meanings (Asia Recipe, 2010).
The main ingredients of Thai desserts are coconut flesh, coconut cream and rice flour in
creating a wide range of variety (Tankitchen-dessert.blogspot, 2010). Sweeteners include
53
sugar crane, palm sugar, coconut sugar and etc. The materials are usually simple and can be
found in any marketplace. Most of Thai desserts menus are made of egg yolks like Foi Thong
(Golden Threads of egg yolks) cooked in sugar syrup and flavored with essence of jasmine.
We cannot deny their deliciousness; even they contain high cholesterol levels (Asia Recipe,
2010). Methods of cooking Thai desserts are diverse in a range such as steaming, baking, boiling,
deep frying and etc. They come in various forms of finger sized sweets served in room
temperature, warm and cold (sweets prepared with crushed ice) (Asia Recipe, 2010). And,
Thai desserts are available in wild rage of places from street vendors, Thai restaurants,
Gourmet section in supermarkets and etc (Thailand Travel Online, 2008-2010).
In addition, Thai sweets and desserts are one of OTOP (One Tambon1
One Product), a
campaign under the purpose to improve the local available resources and produce goods
which are internationally accepted. According to this idea, the government has been
promoting the specialty products –inspired by abundant local materials and culture – of local
industry through manufacturing process in order to meet international standard (Thai OTOP
City, 2003).
Coffee Market and Consumer in Thailand
In Thailand, there are seven most valuable of Thai beverage market as follows; beer, energy
drink, green tea, carbonated drink, coffee, juice and functional drink. The information shows
that coffee ranked in number seventh within beverage market. In beverage market, nowadays
ready-to-drink coffee market has a growth rate about 5 - 7% with market value about 8
billion baht. That is the reason why there are many competitors start to introduce premium
coffee into market. Some of coffee brands try to differentiate themselves from regular canned
coffee by present new style, taste, packaging, and price (Food Industry Thailand, 2010)
Today is not the beginning and end of coffee market in Thailand, almost of business owners
of coffee brands try to create newness for their brands. One of those is environmental
concerning which becomes the most interesting and popular topic in every business. One of
the famous brands, Starbucks focuses on four areas: 1. Strengthen the supply chain 2.
Increase brand loyalty among customers 3. Build trust in our brands, and 4. Try to attract
employees who has full skilled. Another coffee production in Thailand also creates its
strength by using recycling strategy, saving energy as well as a green restaurant strategy
which are now very famous in Asia. Starbucks believe that this process must go on and they
still try to find and create new tactic to make their product become better and better (World of
Knowledge Blog, 2011).
1
The campaign called „One Tambon One Product‟ because the target market is „Tambon‟,
which is village or town in English.
54
About the trends of coffee, the information shows that coffee maintain strong growth in
Thailand amid the economic downturn and poor purchasing power. This was mostly driven
by instant standard coffee which is dominated with 90% share of total off-trade value sales of
coffee in the country in 2010- advertisements, marketing activities, and new product
innovations help to stimulate overall growth of the category (Euromonitor International ,
2011).
All of this information can prove the main idea of this thesis about Innovation idea which is
Thai Desserts. To create the uniqueness toward competitors, entrepreneurs and marketers
have to study about attitude of consumers, which is very necessary because consumers are the
main engine which pushes business to be successful.
Bakery Market and Thai Desserts Market in Thailand
The main reason driving bakery business is the consumer behavior because in present time
Thai people like staying at home and relaxing by just a piece of cake or chocolate. Referring
to the economy in Thailand, bakery industry still move forward continuously, no matter the
economic is either in good or bad condition (Thai Economic , 2009).
For bakery market in Thailand, it shows that premium bakery in the mall can be sold more
expensive, including the ingredients or raw materials such as Cashew nut, almond,
macadamia walnut, etc., which need to be imported from other countries. It shows that high
quality and high standard production of bakery can survive in international markets.
On the other hand, some of Thai professionals said that government should concern more
about Thai Desserts market like pushing export to foreign countries. At the same time, some
products can transform to other figures; for example, pineapple to dried pineapple, fruit in
syrup, or canned pineapple as well. This is to help increase the value of products and
increasing income for Thai people too. (Thai Economic , 2009).
If Thai entrepreneurs have developed their skills in the production process - to make it reach
the standards of quality- the quality of Thai product will be improved to meet international
standard and export to other countries. Also, the marketers should find out the answer to
solve the problem that Thai desserts have a chance to survive in cafés chains market or not.
(Thai Economic , 2009).
5.2.2 Thai Consumers Overview
As this research project puts the focus on Thai teenagers and young adults‟ attitude towards
innovation, it will be useful for us to study the basic characteristics or relevant background of
consumers and Thai Desserts.
55
Thai Consumers’ Attitude towards Thai Desserts
It is regretful for the eagerness with which the Thai people have abandoned aspects of their
traditional customs for trapping of Western cultures (Asia Recipe, 2010). Most of Thais and
foreigners often overlook the values of national heritage of Thai desserts but turn to admire
the bakery instead (The Paknam Web Forums, 2006).
There is a danger in disappearing due to the old attitude of “Thai Desserts” makers although
there has been a renew aspects of them. Some or most people still stuck with the old image of
Thai desserts that were shown on the old aluminium tray sold by the grandma-like saleslady
in the wet and dim local fresh market. Today, with the effort of government‟s campaign in
promoting the awareness of original Thai products among new generation and world stage,
the impression of unhealthy ingredients and cheap quality Thai Desserts has been replaced by
the attractive appearance in beautiful packaging available in various places such as gourmet
sections in department stores, restaurants and etc. However, the results are not quite
satisfactory as we can notice the number of shops selling Thai Desserts and bakery joints; or
the length of queues between Thai treats and Western choices. People prefer waiting in long
lines for donuts from imported brands than Thai Desserts (The Paknam Web Forums, 2006).
One important factor in the fading popularity of Thai Desserts is that there are no practical
recipes for how to cook Thai sweets since most old people did not want to pass their
authentic recipes to others to limit competitors; therefore, the know-how knowledge gone
with them. Then, the desserts makers are less knowledgeable on Thai Desserts menus but rich
of ideas for how to make cakes (The Paknam Web Forums, 2006).
In addition, most of main ingredients of Thai Desserts are coconut milk, sugar, egg yolks and
etc, which contain high cholesterols. And, today people are tending to be more health-
conscious customers; hence, there is an alternative for ones who eating right with new low
cholesterol Thai Desserts using cholesterol-free cream and fructose syrup instead. They
might not taste exactly the same with the original but they are options which may taste even
better (The Paknam Web Forums, 2006).
56
6. Analysis and Interpretation of Research Material
6.1 Social Class According to the main idea of social class “Members of the society are divided into different
levels based on variables such as income, occupation, housing, and etc., that can generally
divided into three social class levels; upper class, middle class and lower class (USC
Marshall, 2010).”, which means the member in the same social class will have values,
interests and behavior in a similar way. From two figures below, they can present that the
high percentage of people will have high educations which are bachelor‟s degree at 69.70%
and master‟s degree at 18.20% .This group of people has income trend about 10,001 baht to
30,000 baht which are 53.30% of overall. Both of these graphs can show that almost of
respondents are stay in Bangkok and they also are in the middle class. Referring to the
statisticians and economists of Thailand, it claims that Bangkok accounted for nearly 75
percent of Thailand's service sector, and accounted for 45.2 percent of Thailand's 548 billion
dollar economy.
20.10%
33.20%
9.50%
2.40%
2.10%
1.30%
less than 10,000 Bath
10,001 to 20,000 Bath
20,001 to 30,000 Bath
30,001 to 40,000 Baht
40,001 to 50,000 Baht
50,001 to 100,000 Baht
More than 100,000 Baht
31.40%
Figure 34: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Monthly Income (Own Illustration)
57
18.20%
0.50% 10%
1.60%
Junior High School
High School
Diploma
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
69.70%
Figure 35: The Percentage of the Respondents’ Education (Own Illustration)
For the social class of the respondents, it can be linked to the following chart. When humans
have high average income, they will have a lot of purchasing power. The chart shows that
almost 50% of the respondents have purchasing power to purchase one premium cup of coffee
at more than 95 baht.
Price of Premium Coffee
45.00%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
30-45 Baht 46-55 Baht 56-65 Baht 66-75 Baht 76-85 Baht 86-95 Baht More than
95 Baht
Figure 36: Target Price Range for Premium Coffee (Own Illustration)
58
6.2 Culture & Sub Culture
At the same time, the result also shows that drinking coffee can becomes new routine or new
behavior of Thai people. There are 238 people (62.8%) visiting café 1-2 times per week and
they always accompany with their friends more than other people (i.e. lover, family or alone).
The percentage of the respondents who always purchase products and services at cafés can be
calculated into 62.3% as two following graphs.
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Friends Lover Family Alone
70.00%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1-2 times 3-4 times 5-6 times more than 7
The percentage of people that the respondents usually go to café with. The frequency of visiting café per week
times
Figure37:The Percentage of People that the Respondents Figure 38:The Frequency of Visiting
Usually Go to Café with (Own Illustration) Café per Week (Own Illustration)
In addition, referring to the finding topic “Café Chains Market and Consumers in Thailand”,
the seventh level of most valuable of Thai beverage market are beer, energy drink, green tea,
carbonated drink, coffee, juice and functional drink. The information shows that coffee
ranked in number seventh of beverage market (Food Industry Thailand, 2010). The result of
the questionnaire is also going in the same way because the drink that respondents always
order while they go to café is coffee (53%) from menu variation. These result shows that
coffee is always popular drink in consumers‟ mind.
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Milk 4.50%
Soft Drinks 2.90%
Fruit or Vegetable juices 7.10%
Different type of tea 32.50%
Coffee Variation 53%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Coffee Variation Different type of tea Fruit or Vegetable juices Soft Drinks Milk
Figure 39: Top Drink Menu that the Respondents Usually Order in Café (Own
Illustration)
Compared to the culture of Thailand in year 1687 or almost 300 years in the past, the history
of Thailand presented that tea is the favorite of Thai people since the reign of King Narai
Maharatch the Great of Ayutthaya. The cause of this situation comes from the fact that Thai
people needed to contact and do business with Chinese people. They received drinking
culture from Chinese people and applied this culture with Thai people. (Doctor, 1994)
Nowadays, the culture of drinking already changed, new generation of people would like to
order coffee and drink it with western bakery such as cake, cookies or ice-cream. (AI
Thailand, 2010)
On the other hand, creating new culture can be possible idea in the world of business due to
the literature review of Langdon Morris saying that “The innovation culture is likewise an
expression of people, their past, and their current beliefs, ideas, and behaviors. They make
innovation happen, and they do so consistently over time” (Morris, 2007). Morris also
comments that creating new innovation culture is not an easy thing but it is still possible. As
same as the idea of Thai Desserts (Innovation) in cafés, this idea can be called as an
innovation culture which is new in café market because almost of cafés in Thailand always
serve western bakery with coffee. The following charts and the details in next paragraph will
support the idea of new culture and Thai Desserts (Innovation) in cafés.
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13.20% 1.30% 0.80%
84.70%
1-2 times 3-4 times 4-5 times more than 7 times
Figure 40: The purchasing frequency of western bakery per week (Own Illustration)
6.60% 2.90%
30%
61.2
1-2 times 3-4 times 4-5 times more than 7 times
Figure 41: The purchasing frequency of Thai Desserts per week (Own Illustration)
Figure 40 shows the purchasing frequency of Western bakery and figure 41 shows the
purchasing of Thai Desserts. Both figures show respondents‟ purchasing habits per week. By
comparing these two figures, the results representing that from overall 379 respondents
purchase Western bakery more often than Thai Desserts though the percentages are similar.
6.3 Value
When comparing two previous graphs together (Figure number 40 & number 41), the result
shows that the value of Thai consumer is inclining to Western bakery. It is because in the
past, the foreign products have higher quality than products within homeland country. This
trend becomes value of Thai society because imported product with high quality must comes
with high price, and the using high price product can reflect the status of users well. When
humans have ability to purchase expensive products, which will show how wealthy they are.
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In present time, products form homelands also improve the quality to reach the quality
standard. Thai government tries to motivate Thai people by launching some campaign to
encourage new generation people to use and buy Thai products (ALG World, 2010). Two
graphs below can explain eating habits of Thai people well.
Dislike Dislike
Like Like
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00% 0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%
Like Dislike Like Dislike
Figure 42: The Respondents’ Opinion on Figure 43: The Respondents’ Opinion
Thai Desserts (Own Illustration) on Western Bakery (Own Illustration)
These two figures show the percentage of Thai respondents‟ opinion on Thai Desserts &
Western bakery. The percentage of Thai people who like Western bakery (93.1%) is higher
than Thai Desserts (80.5%) approximately 13%. This type of question can confirm and reflect
Thai value that Thai people seem to like foreign products more than homeland products.
In contrast, almost 90% of respondents agree that Cafés in Thailand should offer Thai
Desserts (Innovation) instead of Western bakery. It shows that there is a chance for café
business to create new Innovation and uniqueness over competitors.
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Disagree
Agree
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%
Agree Disagree
Figure 44: The Respondents’ Opinion on Replacing Thai desserts (Innovation) instead
of Western Bakery (Own Illustration)
To create the innovation culture, Langdon Morris(2007) saying that culture is like a mirror
which shows the reflection of beliefs and behavior of people, but it is not easy to create
culture. The leaders must know how to develop the innovation culture to sustainable success.
Like Starbucks Coffee, they create new marketing strategy for their brand by using “Green”.
Starbucks use recycling strategy, saving energy and green restaurant to show environmental
concern. The executive of Starbucks said that this strategy become very famous in Asia and
will be successful in the future (World of Knowledge Blog, 2011).
The reason that will support the idea of serving Thai Desserts (Innovation) in cafés the most
is in figure 44. The figure explains about the question in questionnaire “Will you purchase
products and services from café more often in the future? ( If you agree that Thai café should
offer Thai Desserts instead of Western bakery)”, the result of this question shows that almost
70% of all respondents would purchase products and services in the future if café served Thai
Desserts (Innovation) as a pair of coffee or other drinks.
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No
Yes
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00%
Yes No
Figure 45: The Frequency of Purchasing Products and Services from Café more often in
Future (Own Illustration)
To make this idea become stronger, the literature of Daghfous, Petrof & Pons (1999) about
“Values and adoption of innovations: a cross-cultural study” can be described as well. All humans have their process to adopt new things. The adoption process for new products
varies from one individual to another according to characteristics such as demographics (age,
place of residence, etc.), socioeconomics (salary, social class, etc.), psycho-graphics
(personality, open-mindedness, etc.) and culture (value system, ethnicity, etc.) (Daghfous,
Petrof & Pons, 1999). It means that everything will effect to each other- factor by factor.
Then, the marketers should concern about the strategy that they plan to use in order to create
the strength over competitors.
The expert of food “Mr.Yingsak Jonglertjesdawong” known as “Arjan Yingsak” said that
Thailand has a lot of product which can help the economy of country. Some of Thai fruit can
be transformed to another figure; for example, pineapple to dried pineapple, fruit in syrup and
canned pineapple as well. Thai entrepreneurs should develop their skills in the production
process to reach the quality standard. It is because this will increase the value of products and
income for Thai people in the future. (Thai Economic, 2009).
At the same time, if the marketer of Thailand can create the strength point of Thai Desserts
(Innovation) in Cafés, Thai products under Thai brands may have a chance to become a
successful business in global markets.
6.4 SWOT Analysis
To make the “Innovation” idea about Thai Dessert in Coffee Café becomes true, the marketer
should concern about SWOT analysis as well. Referring to the main idea of SWOT analysis.
It is a key to help the marketer to determine Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats that will impact to the organization.
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Strengths: The uniqueness of Thai Desserts which are originated in Thailand
especially in terms of appearance, production process, taste, variation, etc. These become the
most important things which can present Thai culture.
Weaknesses: To maintain the delicious taste of Thai Desserts, the producer needs to
keep its original flavor. The exceptional taste is normally derived from the main ingredients
containing high calories and cholesterol from egg and sugar (The Paknam Web Forums,
2006) which can be a cause of fat.
Opportunities: All markets always have an increasing demand of new products &
services. To create new trend among teenager and young adult who are yearning for newness
in their daily life, Thai Desserts can become a good selection for the marketer who is
interested in new chance to enhance the business.
Threats: Today‟s Café market of Thailand is obsessed by Western bakery trend which
is considered as a big obstacle for Thai Desserts to complete with. Refer to the attitude
concept that Consumer Attitude is hard to change because the consumer already
acknowledged & fixed in their mind and may need a lot of time to change it.
6.5 Attitude
Attitude is a complex mental state which involves what one knows, one‟s own feelings or
opinions, values, and disposition to act in a certain ways towards something. Hence, from
finding, the overall attitudes towards Thai Desserts are good due to most of the respondents
who are Thai teenagers and young adults both female and male have ever experienced Thai
desserts and liked eating them as well. Most of them normally purchase Thai Desserts 1-2
times per week; consequencely, it is a good indicator that they have the tendency in future
purchase of products and services of Thai desserts with coffee among cafés. However,
according to the survey, the respondents rated the feelings based on strongly agree and
strongly disagree among eleven attributes which influence them in terms of decision making
to purchase Thai Desserts with coffee (Innovation). As a result, the target customers believed
that Thai Desserts should be good at their tastes as the most important factor, also the other
factors are placed in logical order based on degree of significance as follows; cleanliness of
the shop, attractive packaging and promotional discounts (equal mean), quality, services in
the shop, Thai desserts variation, presentation of Thai sweets, colorful appearance, quantity
and price as the least concern of the customers in purchasing Thai desserts with coffee
(Innovation).
As a personal attitude is a result of the learning of stimulus or object; thus, an individual
develops either like or dislike towards it. Also, stimulus can be anything from physical to
social objects such as a brand, a person, a food and etc. The old attitude of Thai Desserts,
which are unhealthy ingredients and cheap quality, has been replaced by the new aspects of
the attractive appearance in beautiful packaging available in various places such as gourmet
sections in department stores, restaurants and etc., supported by the effort and promotional
campaign of the government. In addition, Thai Desserts using cholesterol-free cream and
fructose syrup instead of the original main ingredients of Thai Desserts, which are coconut
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milk, sugar, egg yolks and etc, which contain high cholesterols. Then, customers can access
the new information of Thai Desserts that they are good and attractive, and develop a positive
attitude towards them in terms of products image, current nutrition trend of health-
consciousness. Thai desserts are worth trying for customers anyhow.
As the main target customer groups are under Bachelor‟s Degree and Master‟s Degree, they
are considered as educated and sophisticated customers. Today, consumers are demanding
more than coffee place and good coffee from their consumption experience. Specialty coffee
shops are attracting younger consumers to test and try.
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7. Conclusion of the Research Outcome From the purpose of the research
To investigate how eastern and western concept can emerge and make a success.
To analyze attitude of Thai teenagers and young adults under the age range of 15 -34 years
old towards innovative products of Thai Desserts and Western coffee among cafés.
To help entrepreneurs and marketing managers find the probability to make this a trend
under proper marketing strategies.
We have done the conclusion which is worth answering the research problem by using both
primary and secondary data as mention in the research methodology chapter as follows;
In conclusion, from questionnaire and secondary information, they show that social class is one
of the factors which effects to decision process of consumer. If the consumers had high social
class or high income, they would have high purchasing power to purchase high cost products
than middle class or low class people. Hence, the marketers need to concentrate and concern
about their target groups‟ social class or income to make sure that they will create the best
price strategy. On the other hand, value in Thai society always believes that high price
products or imported products consumption will show that they have high status. To make Thai
products be accepted for Thai people, the marketers should concern about quality or
uniqueness of product. There are many ways to create the uniqueness for Thai Desserts which
can make Thai Desserts become a new trend among teenagers and young adults in the future.
At the same time, Thai people interest in western more than before including eating habits.
Drinking coffee at café becomes new fashion for new generation. Teenagers always spend
their time drinking coffee with their friends. For various choices of beverage, teenagers have a
chance to choose which taste of drinks they like the most such as coffee, fruit or vegetable
juice, tea or soft drink, and etc. Even though western bakery is more popular for Thai people
than Thai desserts, Thai people still like to eat and purchase Thai Desserts. This will become
the good opportunity for the marketers to improve their products and services which relate
with Thai Desserts in order to keep serve the need of Thai people and generate the profitability
as well.
Since people are currently tending to “eating out‟ and having shorter time for their meals than
before, the café chains are becoming the proper places for new generation to dine out and have
social meeting. Attitude towards Thai Desserts is in the positive way due to target customers
are beginning to accept the innovation of Thai Desserts in café place due to the new
characteristics or attributes of Thai Desserts which proper for teenagers and young adults who
are ready to explore and challenge the new experience of food and beverage.
There is the possibility for Thai Desserts to beat the popularity of Western bakery, even there
is higher number of shops selling Western bakery than Thai Desserts and people are queuing in
long line for foreign products than that of Thailand. Hence, there needs some time or
„transition period‟ for customers to accept more and more until the Thai Desserts can become
a new trend among café industry instead of a showcase of Western bakery. This will be the
great opportunity for entrepreneurs and marketers to generate business among this café
industry bur placing the Eastern Thai desserts on a showcase selling as a perfect combination
with the Western style of coffee
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Thai Desserts can be the interesting new options of products for customers who are looking for
newness and differentiation to be the perfect match with Western style coffee among café
chains in Thai market around Bangkok. That’s mean SWOT analysis will be useful for
entrepreneurs and marketers as a tool that forecasting the entrance opportunities of Thai
Desserts among Café Industry in Thailand because they will know how to penetrate the market
or how to launch the product efficiently. SWOT can help evaluate both internal and external
factors which affect to organization. In this case, it shows that the strengths and the
opportunities; original taste of Thai Desserts which can help the marketers to create their
chance to enter into the market. On the other hand, weaknesses and threats will help the
entrepreneurs and marketers to figure out the best possible solutions for problem solving and
risk management.
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8. Recommendation The Marketing Mix (4P’s) is tools that are designed to control the business in order to serve
all needs maximize satisfaction of the target groups. Marketers must deliver the right
combination of offerings through the right communication channels, which will be described
and explained through Marketing Mix (4P‟s) in following details.
8.1 Marketing Mix (4P’s)
8.1.1 Product
Product is the product or service which offers to the customers.
Appearance
The innovative strategies are the ways to create the differentiation for customers can
actually experience it easily. For example, Thai desserts acquire special features such
as the finger sized shape, colorful appearance, variation and etc. Moreover, in order to
sustain growth, leading café chains should deliver uniqueness of products and
services, including continue to offer quality Thai desserts and coffee to the
consumers.
Ingredients
The products should be made from the good healthy ingredients in accordance with
the nutrition facts under the developing process in order to achieve the quality
standard, which will correspond to the current nutrition trend of health conscious
customers. This will ensure that customers feel safe in products consumption.
Packaging
Today, the packaging plays an important role among products because it can reflect
the personality of the purchasers in some degree. Referring to the survey results,
packaging and appearance of Thai Desserts should be in international pattern. The
packaging should also be attractive, safe and meet standard as well. In addition, the
well designed packaging can create the instant recognition of the brand to the
customers.
Lastly, marketers use the competitive advantages of Thai Desserts meaning to represent to
the customers. They can put each type of Thai sweets with their descriptive good meaning on
the shelves for Thai people have the beliefs of auspicious meaning bringing them prosperous.
8.1.2 Price
Pricing is one important factor which should be taken into account for profit margins and the
probable pricing response of competitors.
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In accordance to the survey results, the respondents were asked with the question “What is
the reasonable price for Thai desserts? (15 pieces/ package)”, the average price is 55 Bath/
package (~ 11 SEK/ package) for Thai sweets.
Also, the market penetration pricing technique, which sets the initial low price to attract the
customers for the first market entry of the products, can be used at this point. It will be good
to gain and expand the market share from competitors in primary basis in order to create the
awareness among target customers; then, the price can be increased to normal market price
scale when a market is certain. Also, this technique can create more trade through the word of
mouth quickly.
However, marketers can create more added value, which would justify the higher prices
charged by leading café chains
8.1.3 Place
Place or placement is associated with channels of distribution that serve as the means for
getting the product to the target customers.
The distribution channels can make the products available for the customers; hence, the right
placement can increase the sales volume and boost the profitability.
According to the survey results, the respondents believe and expect that Thai desserts should
be sold in café chains located in shopping complexes with nice atmosphere. Therefore, Thai
desserts should be placed in café among proper surrounding, which are attractive places
where teenagers and young adults usually go. This will be the efficient way to explode the
products and reach the customers at the same time.
8.1.4 Promotion
Promotion decisions are those related to communicating and selling to potential consumers.
Promotion decisions involve advertising, public relations, media types, etc. Promotions
should be conducted to influence the customers to purchase more
Sales Promotion
To create „want‟ to customers or encourage them to purchase the products and
services more, the marketers need to launch and make use of various promotional packages.
From the survey results, membership cards and discounts seems to be the most influential
promotion for respondents .The second is special seasonal promotion. The third is loyalty
cards for free drink exchange when respondents reach the minimum purchase conditions,
coupled with the free trial which is the least influential promotion for respondents. Therefore,
marketers should set up interesting sales promotions to attract customers.
Advertising and Media
According to the survey results, the customers normally gain the information of the products
and services before deciding to select and purchase products and services. The most
influential source for respondents is internet. The second potential source used to get
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information is magazine while the third is banner. Then it followed with TV, newspaper,
radio and friend of friend. Then, marketer should promote Thai desserts among café chains
through the websites, magazine, banner and other types of media mentioned above for
customers can access information that conveys them to select Thai desserts due to trading in
the current market place is demanding more promotions. They are necessary to maintain both
interest and satisfaction levels.
On the other hand, packaging can be as a moving advertising because when customers carry
the product packages or bags in public, people can notice immediately. In other words,
packaging can be used as both real packaging and free effective advertising as well, which is
considered a good idea.
To sum up, since attitudes are essentially stable structures and are not easily changed, it
seems to be difficult and costs a lot to enterprise in changing attitude. Then, a company
should try to fit products into existing attitudes rather than attempt to change it. However, in
order to struggle and survive in business market today, all entrepreneurs and marketers must
try hard in acquiring and increasing the competitiveness within their products and services in
order to compete with competitors among the same industry efficiently.
These proper marketing strategies or activities of Marketing Mix (4P‟s) will help
encouraging or influencing targets customers to purchase more and more. Since teenagers
and young adults are considered as educated and sophisticated customers, entrepreneurs and
marketers have to deliver their products and services in an exceptional level in order to
achieve the customers‟ satisfactory. This will make the customers to repurchase the products
and services continuously and help enhance the understanding of how to generate the
profitability for café chains, especially in Bangkok, Thailand, in becoming trend in future.
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Appendix 1– Questionnaire (English Version)
THE CONSUMER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE INNOVATION AMONG CAFÉ
IN THAI MARKET
This questionnaire is a part of student master thesis, International Marketing Program,
Mälardalen University, Sweden. All information given in this questionnaire will be used for
research purpose only and they will be kept confidential. Thank you for your kind
cooperation.
Course Name: EFO705 Master Thesis
Advisor: Peter Selegård
This questionnaire is composed of 4 parts:
Part1: Personal Information
Part 2: Consumer Behavior
Part 3: Market Factors
Part 4: Attitude towards Innovation
Part 1: Personal Information
1. Gender *
Male Female
2. Age *
Less than 15 years 16-25 years 26-35 years
36-45 years More than 45 years
3. Nationality *
Thai Other
4. Marital Status
Single Married Divorce
5. Education
Elementary junior high school High School
Diploma Bachelor's degree Master's Degree
PHD Other:
75
6. Profession
Student State Employee Public Employee
Business Owner Other:
7. Monthly Income
Less than 10,000 Baht 10,001 to 20,000 Baht 20,001 to 30,000 Baht
30,001 to 40,000 Baht 40,001 to 50,000 Baht 50,001 to 100,000 Baht
More than 100,000 Baht.
Part 2: Consumer Behavior
8. Have you ever used goods or services from a cafe or not ?
Ever Never Other:
9. How many times you visit cafe per week?
1-2 times 3-4 times
5-6 times more than 7 times per week
10. Do you usually drink coffee from a cafe or brand on a regular basis ?
Coffee World Starbuck True Coffee
Mc Café Black Canyon Blue Cup by S&P
Farmhouse Coffee Cafe D 'O ro Other:
11. What is the menu that you usually order in the cafe ?
Coffee variation Different types of tea (green tea, milk tea)
Fruit and vegetable juices Soft drinks
Milk Other:
12. What is your normal coffee consumer behavior ?
Consume at the store Consume at work Purchase, drink and
walk
Take away Other:
13. How long do you typically spend in the cafe ?
Less than 1 hour 1-2 hours
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3-4 hours 4 hours
14. Who did you usually go with when visiting cafe ?
Friend Lover Family
Alone Other:
15. Which cafe do you regularly have coffee ?
Cafe in department stores Cafe in workplace Cafe in gas station
Cafe in parks such as Chatuchak, Suan Lum Night Bazaar and etc.
Cafe with special atmosphere Other:
16. What is the main reason for you to a purchase products and services in cafe ?You
can choose more than one item.
Meeting friends / family Access the Internet
Use as an appointment or waiting time appointment. Reading / listening to
music
A demonstration of coffee service or a dessert demonstration of various forms
The sale of souvenirs or decorative items from the shop Other:
Part 3: Market Factors
17. What is the price do you regularly pay for a premium coffee ?
30-45 Baht 46-55 Baht 56-65 Baht
66-75 Baht 76-85 Baht 86-95 Baht
More than 95 Baht
18. What factors do influence you in terms of decision making to select a cafe ?
Please respond by filling in how much you agree or disagree with each of the following
statement
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
77
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
Coffee taste
Price
Quality
Volume
other choices of product
sold in a shop
Easy to find
Cleanliness of the shop
Atmosphere and
decorative style
Promotions and discounts
Service
Packaging
Facilities such as Internet,
magazines and Wi-fi
19. Which type of media does influence the selection of your cafe ?
You can choose more than one item
T.V. Radio Newspaper
Magazine Banner Internet
Other:
20. Which kind of promotional package will influence you in purchase the most ?
You can choose more than one item
The use of loyalty cards in exchange for free drinks Apply membership cards
and discounts
78
Taste
Quality
Promotion offers special seasonal variety Free trial sample
Other:
Part 4: Attitude towards Innovation among cafe
Today cafe is trying to serve customer more than just coffee. In addition to the service, they
offer customer with various product choices such as different types of desserts and other
facilities in order to increase diversity . If the customer is interested in desserts, he/she will be
able to order and eat in the shop, also can take home. This is how origin of the ideas derived
for merge of Thai dessert and western coffee (Innovation) in cafe. This information part can
be used to develop and improve the marketing concept of the cafe industry into the upper
scale in the future.
Remark
The general operating system among cafe chains, they will offer bakery with coffee. *Bakery
refers to cookies, cake, pie, etc. 2. The new operating system among cafe chains, they will
offer Thai Desserts(Innovation) with coffee. *Thai Desserts(Innovation) refers to Thong Yibb
(Egg Yolk and Sugar), Kanom-Chan (Candy Layer Desserts), Kanom-Salee (Thai Muffins),
etc.
21. Do you like to eat bakery or not ?
Like Dislike Other:
22. How often do you purchase bakery per week ?
1-2 times 3-4 times
5-6 times more than 7 times per week
23. What factors do influence you in terms of decision making to purchase bakery
product ?
Please respond by filling in how much you agree or disagree with each of the following
statement
Price
Volume
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
79
A variety of
types of
bakery
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
The
outward
appearance
of the
packaging
Cleanliness
Colors of
Bakery
Presentation
format
Promotions
and discounts
Service
24. In your opinion, what is a reasonable price for bakery ?
25. Do you like eating Thai dessert (Innovation) ?
Like Dislike Other:
26. How often do you purchase Thai desserts (Innovation) per week ?
1-2 times 3-4 times
5-6 times more than 7 times per week
27. What factors do influence you in terms of decision making to purchase Thai desserts
with coffee (Innovation) ?Please respond by filling in how much you agree or disagree with
each of the following statement
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
Taste
Price
80
1 Disagree 2 3 4 5 Agree
Volume
Quality
A variety of types
of Thai
desserts(Innovation)
The outward
appearance of the packaging
Cleanliness
Colors of Thai
desserts
Presentation format
Promotions and
discounts
Service
28. In your opinion, what is a reasonable price of Thai desserts (Innovation) ?(15 small
pieces/package)
29. Do you agree or disagree if cafe in Thailand offering Thai desserts (Innovation)
instead of western bakery?
Agree Disagree Other:
30. Will you purchase products and services more often in the future? (If they present
Thai desserts (Innovation) in a cafe.)Why ?
Yes No Other:
31. What catagory of Thai desserts are worth attract you the most?[If you agree that
cafe should offer Thai desserts (Innovation).]
Maintaining the original style of Thai desserts
81
Change only the packaging to make it look more modern
Change only the style of Thai dessert to make it look more modern
Change both packaging and style Other:
32. What kind of traditional Thai desserts should be best matched with coffee or other
drinks in cafe ?
More than one choice
Sweets made from egg yolk and sugar.
Type of steamed sweets such as Kanom-Chan (Candy Layer Desserts), Kanom-Salee
(Thai Muffins), etc
Type of boiled sweets such as Kaw-Tom-Mad (Boiled Rice Sweets), etc
Type of coconut milk such as Kanom-Piak Poon (Coconut Pudding), etc
Type of baked sweets such as Kanom-Dork Lam Duan(Baking Flour) and Kanom-Ba
Bin(Baking Sweets), etc.
Type of sweeten desserts such as Kluay Chuerm (Sweeten Banana), etc
Type syrup sweets such as Pon La Mai Loy Keaw(Fruit in Syrup), Woon Nam Chuerm
(Jelly in Syrup), etc
Other:
33. Other suggestions for improvement among cafe chain?
82
Appendix 2–Survey Results
Part 1: Personal Information
Statistics
Gender age Nationality Status Education
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean 1.89 2.26 1.01 1.02 4.95
Std. Deviation .311 .503 .089 .135 .804
Minimum 1 1 1 1 2
Maximum 2 4 2 2 6
Nationality
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Thai
Other
Total
376 99.2 99.2 99.2
3 .8 .8 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Other is France
83
Status
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid single
married
Total
372 98.2 98.2 98.2
7 1.8 1.8 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Part 2: Consumer Behavior
Have you ever used goods or services from a cafe or not ?
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Ever
never
Total
350 92.3 92.3 92.3
29 7.7 7.7 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
84
Do you usually drink coffee from a cafe or brand on a regular basis ?
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Coffee World
Starbuck
True Coffee
Mc Cafe
Black Canyon
Blue Cup by
S&P
Cafe D 'O ro
Other
Total
24 6.3 6.3 6.3
247 65.2 65.2 71.5
26 6.9 6.9 78.4
13 3.4 3.4 81.8
33 8.7 8.7 90.5
9 2.4 2.4 92.9
21 5.5 5.5 98.4
6 1.6 1.6 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Other is Amazon, Ban rai Café
85
How long do you typically spend sitting in the cafe ?
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Less than 1 hour
1-2 hours
3-4 hours
4 hours
Total
220 58.0 58.0 58.0
132 34.8 34.8 92.9
25 6.6 6.6 99.5
2 .5 .5 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
Statistics
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What is
the main
reason
for you
for a
purchase
of
products
and
services
in cafe?
What
coffee
price
range do
you
regularly
pay for a
premium
coffee?
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
.69 .09 .13 .08 .02 .03 .00 4.77
Std.
Deviation
.463 .282 .336 .270 .135 .175 .000 2.437
Minimum 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Maximum 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 7
86
Part 3: Market Factors
Statistics
Taste bakery
product
price bakery
product
quality bakery
product
volume
bakery
product
A variety of
types of
candy bakery
The beauty of
the packaging
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.70 3.69 3.64 4.52 4.09 3.70
Std. Deviation .590 .757 .747 .570 .749 .800
Statistics
clean
Colors of
Thai desserts
Presentation
format
Promotions
and discounts
Service
bakery
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.55 3.63 3.75 3.75 3.99
Std. Deviation .650 .766 .712 .890 .876
87
What type of media does influence the selection of your cafe? Statistics
TV Radio Newspaper Magazine Banner Internet Other
N Valid
Missing
n
379 379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mea .29 .08 .12 .44 .41 .55 .03
Std. Deviation .453 .278 .327 .497 .493 .499 .182
88
Which kind of promotional package will influence you in purchase the most?
Statistics
The use of
loyalty cards
in exchange
for free drinks
Apply
membership
cards and
discounts
Promotion
offers special
seasonal
variety
Free trial
sample
Other
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean .26 .39 .27 .07 .00
Std. Deviation .440 .488 .444 .262 .000
Part 4: Attitude towards Innovation among Cafe
Statistics
Do you like to eat
bakery or not
How often do you purchase
bakery per week?
N Valid
Missing
379 379
0 0
Mean 1.07 1.51
Std. Deviation .253 .747
89
What factors do influence you in terms of decision making to purchase bakery product ?
Statistics
Taste bakery
product
price bakery
product
quality bakery
product
volume
bakery
product
A variety of
types of
bakery
The beauty of
the packaging
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.70 3.69 3.64 4.52 4.09 3.70
Std. Deviation .590 .757 .747 .570 .749 .800
Statistics
Cleanliness
Colors of
bakery
Presentation
format
Promotions
and discounts
Service
bakery
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.55 3.63 3.75 3.75 3.99
Std. Deviation .650 .766 .712 .890 .876
90
Statistics
Do you agree or disagree
with that fact that a cafe
offering Thai desserts
(Innovation) instead of
western bakery
purchase products and
services more often in
the future
what kind of desserts
category are worth
showing to attract the
customer?
N Valid
Missing
379 379 379
0 0 0
Mean 1.11 1.30 2.66
Std. Deviation .311 .459 .926
what kind of desserts category are worth showing to attract the customer?
Frequency
Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid Maintaining the original
style of Thai desserts
Integrated eastern &
western style
International pattern of
packaging and
appearance of Thai
desserts
other
Total
52 13.7 13.7 13.7
91 24.0 24.0 37.7
168 44.3 44.3 82.1
68 17.9 17.9 100.0
379 100.0 100.0
91
What kind of traditional Thai desserts should be best matched with coffee or other
drinks in cafe ?
Statistics
Sweets
made
from
egg
yolk
and
sugar.
Type of
steamed
sweets
such as
Kanom-
Chan
(Candy
Layer
Desserts),
Kanom-
Salee
(Thai
Muffins),
etc
Type of
boiled
sweets
such as
Kaw-
Tom-
Mad
(Boiled
Rice
Sweets),
etc
Type of
coconut
milk such
as
Kanom-
Piak
Poon
(Coconut
Pudding),
etc
Type of
baked sweets
such as
Kanom-Dork
Lam
Duan(Baking
Flour) and
Kanom-Ba
Bin(Baking
Sweets), etc.
Type of
sweeten
desserts
such as
Kluay
Chuerm
(Sweeten
Banana),
etc
Type syrup
sweets
such as
Pon La
Mai Loy
Keaw(Fruit
in Syrup),
Woon
Nam
Chuerm
(Jelly in
Syrup), etc
other
N Valid
Missing
ean
379 379 379 379 379 379 379 379
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
M .49 .24 .04 .01 .18 .01 .03 .01
Std.
Deviation
.501 .426 .189 .073 .382 .102 .168 .102
